Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/43571 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Nota di Lavoro No. 2010,95
Publisher: 
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Milano
Abstract: 
This paper analyses the relation between competition and concentration in the banking sector. The empirical answer is given by testing a monopolistic competition model of bank branching behaviour on individual bank data at county level (départements and provinces) in France and Italy. We propose a measure of the degree of competiveness in each local market that is function also of market structure indicators. We then use the econometric model to evaluate the impact of horizontal mergers among incumbent banks on competition and discuss when, depending on the pre-merger structure of the market and geographic distribution of branches, the merger is anti-competitive. The paper has implications for competition policy as it suggests an applied tool to evaluate the potential anti-competitive impact of mergers.
Subjects: 
Banking Industry
Competition and Market Structure
Merger Policy
JEL: 
G21
L13
L59
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
340.76 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.