MERGER POLICY IN THE UNITED-STATES - A RECONSIDERATION

This paper reviews the history of U.S. antimerger policy. This history is divided into three periods: a period in which there was almost no effective antimerger policy at all from 1890 up to 1959, a period of v igorous antimerger policy from 1950 up through 1973, and a period of l ax enforcement from 1974 to the present. The paper accounts for these shifts in antimerger policy and discusses their effects. After reviewi ng the logic and consequences of U.S. antimerger policy, a critique of its premises is offered, particularly as these premises apply to the recent era of lax enforcement. The paper closes with suggestions for a n alternative approach to antimerger policy that is consistent with th e empirical evidence on why mergers occur and their effects.