S. Dalkir et al., Mergers in symmetric and asymmetric noncooperative auction markets: the effects on prices and efficiency, INT J IND O, 18(3), 2000, pp. 383-413
United States antitrust merger analysis has recently focused on simulating
the unilateral effects of mergers. We develop a model to simulate the unila
teral price increase from a merger in an auction market. We illustrate our
results in the context of hospital mergers in the U.S., and calibrate our s
imulations to known market parameters.
We compare the price increases in our model to those suggested by analytica
lly simpler models. The simulation results suggest that the unilateral pric
e increases predicted by our model are modest in general. We also simulate
the merger cost savings that are needed to offset the price effects. (C) 20
00 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.