HORIZONTAL MERGERS, STRUCTURAL REMEDIES, AND CONSUMER WELFARE IN A COURNOT OLIGOPOLY WITH ASSETS

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Competition authorities sometimes require that firms divest some of their assets to rivals in order to allow a merger to take place. This paper extends the results of Farrell and Shapiro [1990a] and shows that, in the absence of technological synergies, a merger is highly unlikely to benefit consumers, even if it is subjected to appropriate structural remedies. For instance, a merger may ultimately lead to a lower price only if at least two different firms acquire the divested assets, and if the merging parties had relatively important pre-merger market shares.