Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/77388 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
HEI Working Paper No. 21/2007
Publisher: 
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the effect of merger-driven market concentration on the markups of non-merging rival firms in Europe's paper manufacturing industry. Using a representative data set of 400 independently-owned companies spanning a ten-year period, we aim to disentangle the impact of full-scale mergers and acquisitions from that due to other concentration-increasing developments. We find a positive and statistically significant relationship between price-cost margins and overall industry consolidation, as captured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman and four-firm indexes. However, takeover-related market share amalgamation has a negative impact, albeit of more modest proportions. The latter result seems to be driven by vertical transactions, suggesting that input-side channels, much as product price competition, may explain non-merging firms' mark-up response.
Subjects: 
Mergers and acquisitions
Concentration
Mark-up
Competition policy
JEL: 
C23
G34
K21
L11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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