This paper considers the means by which mergers are assessed by competition authorities in oligopolistic markets. The focus of the paper is on whether a merger would lead to the emergence of conscious parallel behaviour arising from the joint dominance of the leading players. This assessment is typically conducted informally relying on a checklist of known market conditions that support the for...

Competition and antitrust law aims to prevent companies from engaging in anti-competitive behavior and to promote and protect market competition. In this context, mergers and acquisitions are under particular scrutiny, since they are often assumed to be motivated by possible market power increases, thus adversely affecting market efficiency. With a view to recent efforts within the European Uni...

The relationship between competition and cooperation in supply chain enterprises is not only affected by the factors inside the chain, but also by the competition chain. We choose two-level supply chain in this article, and discuss the four competition and cooperation states of manufacturer and retailer under the same market structure with reference chain, that is, cooperation-cooperation, comp...

In this paper a model based analysis of competition in the German electricity market is presented. Applying a multi-regional two-stage model, which captures interregional transmission constraints and the impact of forward trading on spot market decisions, potential for exercising market power of the four dominant electricity producers has been found. Assuming Cournot behavior in the spot market...

The market for security software has witnessed an unprecedented growth in recent years. A closer examination of this market reveals certain idiosyncrasies that are not observed in a traditional software market. For example, it is a highly competitive market involving several major vendors, often with a very aggressive pricing strategy adopted by new entrants. Yet, the market coverage seems to b...

We describe a possible design strategy for a market specialist in the TAC Market Design Competition. Specifically, we describe both a linear charging policy that steadily increases the fees charged to trading agents interacting with the market, and an adaptive pricing policy that alters the trading price of goods based on the relative numbers of buyers and sellers in the market and the previous...

Competition among private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is seen by some as leading to lower premiums and expanded benefits. But how much competition exists in MA markets? Using a standard measure of market competition, our analysis finds that 97 percent of markets in U.S. counties are highly concentrated and therefore lacking in significant MA plan competition. Competition is considerably lower...

This paper addresses three issues. First, why did market competition emerge in the U.S. health care system? Second, once free of regulatory constraints, how is the structure of the medical care system likely to evolve? Three, what are the implications of market competition for the public as well as for providers? The medical system in the U.S. was highly regulated and conventional wisdom assume...

This paper studies the effects of generic entry on post-patent price competition for 18 prescription drugs recently exposed to competition. An independent, validating test of the “generic competition paradox” is conducted using a newly created data set. Each generic entrant is associated with an average 1% increase in the branded price. The one-way error component model accounts for intermolecu...