Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2017
Published In
Upward Pricing Pressure As A Predictor Of Merger Price Effects
Abstract
We use Monte Carlo experiments to evaluate whether “upward pricing pressure” (UPP) accurately predicts the price effects of mergers, motivated by the observation that UPP is a restricted form of the first order approximation derived in Jaffe and Weyl (2013). Results indicate that UPP is quite accurate with standard log-concave demand systems, but understates price effects if demand exhibits greater convexity. Prediction error does not systematically exceed that of misspecified simulation models, nor is it much greater than that of correctly-specified models simulated with imprecise demand elasticities. The results also support that UPP provides accurate screens for anticompetitive mergers.
Keywords
Upward pricing pressure, UPP, Merger simulation, Merger enforcement, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Unilateral effects
Recommended Citation
N. H. Miller, Marc Remer, C. Ryan, and G. Sheu.
(2017).
"Upward Pricing Pressure As A Predictor Of Merger Price Effects".
Upward Pricing Pressure As A Predictor Of Merger Price Effects.
Volume 52,
216-247.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2017.01.010
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics/351
Comments
This work is a postprint that is freely available courtesy of Elsevier.