IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/indorg/v42y2015icp1-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Divestiture requirements as a tool for competition policy: A case from the Swedish beer market

Author

Listed:
  • Friberg, Richard
  • Romahn, André

Abstract

We investigate the effect of divestitures on prices and welfare following the Carlsberg–Pripps merger in the Swedish beer market. Both difference-in-difference estimation and simulations using a random coefficients logit model suggest that divestitures are important for dampening price increases. Prices of divested brands fall by around 3% and the predicted price increase for Carlsberg falls from 3 to 1.6% as a result of the divestitures. To guide practice on divestitures, we investigate the role of the recipient and the number and characteristics of the divested products by simulating post-merger outcomes for all relevant cases. We find that in this setting with large multiproduct firms, the competition authority's most effective means to dampen adverse post-merger outcomes are to aim for a small recipient firm and attain a large number of divested products. Enforcing larger divestitures in terms of market share and raising the average cross-price elasticity between the merging parties' divested and retained products strengthen the dampening effect further.

Suggested Citation

  • Friberg, Richard & Romahn, André, 2015. "Divestiture requirements as a tool for competition policy: A case from the Swedish beer market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:42:y:2015:i:c:p:1-18
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.06.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718715000703
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.06.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Justine S. Hastings, 2004. "Vertical Relationships and Competition in Retail Gasoline Markets: Empirical Evidence from Contract Changes in Southern California," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 317-328, March.
    2. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2010. "The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design Is Taking the Con out of Econometrics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 3-30, Spring.
    3. Jean‐Pierre Dubé & Jeremy T. Fox & Che‐Lin Su, 2012. "Improving the Numerical Performance of Static and Dynamic Aggregate Discrete Choice Random Coefficients Demand Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(5), pages 2231-2267, September.
    4. Ronald L. Goettler & Brett R. Gordon, 2011. "Does AMD Spur Intel to Innovate More?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(6), pages 1141-1200.
    5. Amil Petrin, 2002. "Quantifying the Benefits of New Products: The Case of the Minivan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(4), pages 705-729, August.
    6. Jerry Hausman & Gregory Leonard & J. Douglas Zona, 1994. "Competitive Analysis with Differentiated Products," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 34, pages 143-157.
    7. repec:adr:anecst:y:1994:i:34:p:06 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. B. D. McCullough & H. D. Vinod, 2003. "Verifying the Solution from a Nonlinear Solver: A Case Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 873-892, June.
    9. Cosnita, Andreea & Tropeano, Jean-Philippe, 2009. "Negotiating remedies: Revealing the merger efficiency gains," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 188-196, March.
    10. Aviv Nevo, 2000. "Mergers with Differentiated Products: The Case of the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(3), pages 395-421, Autumn.
    11. Nevo, Aviv, 2001. "Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(2), pages 307-342, March.
    12. Christopher T. Conlon & Julie Holland Mortimer, 2010. "Effects of Product Availability: Experimental Evidence," NBER Working Papers 16506, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Hellerstein, Rebecca, 2008. "Who bears the cost of a change in the exchange rate? Pass-through accounting for the case of beer," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 14-32, September.
    14. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    15. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken, 2010. "The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Mergers on the Enforcement Margin," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 417-466.
    16. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Rebecca Hellerstein, 2013. "A Structural Approach to Identifying the Sources of Local Currency Price Stability," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 175-210.
    17. Vivienne Pham & David Prentice, 2013. "A Random Coefficients Logit Analysis of the Counterfactual: A Merger and Divestiture in the Australian Cigarette Industry," Working Papers 2013.04, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    18. Baker, Jonathan B & Baresnahan, Timothy F, 1985. "The Gains from Merger or Collusion in Product-differentiated Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 427-444, June.
    19. Elzinga, Kenneth G, 1969. "The Antimerger Law: Pyrrhic Victories?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 43-78, April.
    20. Compte, Olivier & Jenny, Frederic & Rey, Patrick, 2002. "Capacity constraints, mergers and collusion," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-29, January.
    21. J. Levin & L. Einav, 2012. "Empirical Industrial Organization: A Progress Report," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 1.
    22. Pinkse, Joris & Slade, Margaret E., 2004. "Mergers, brand competition, and the price of a pint," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 617-643, June.
    23. Farrell Joseph & Shapiro Carl, 2010. "Antitrust Evaluation of Horizontal Mergers: An Economic Alternative to Market Definition," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-41, March.
    24. Margaret E. Slade, 2004. "Market Power and Joint Dominance in U.K. Brewing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 133-163, March.
    25. Hess, Stephane & Train, Kenneth E. & Polak, John W., 2006. "On the use of a Modified Latin Hypercube Sampling (MLHS) method in the estimation of a Mixed Logit Model for vehicle choice," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 147-163, February.
    26. Orley C. Ashenfelter & Daniel S. Hosken & Matthew C. Weinberg, 2015. "Efficiencies brewed: pricing and consolidation in the US beer industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(2), pages 328-361, June.
    27. Tenn, Steven & Yun, John M., 2011. "The success of divestitures in merger enforcement: Evidence from the J&J-Pfizer transaction," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 273-282, March.
    28. Blonigen, Bruce A. & Knittel, Christopher R. & Soderbery, Anson, 2017. "Keeping it fresh: Strategic product redesigns and welfare," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 170-214.
    29. Alon Eizenberg, 2014. "Upstream Innovation and Product Variety in the U.S. Home PC Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(3), pages 1003-1045.
    30. Fabio Panetta & Dario Focarelli, 2003. "Are Mergers Beneficial to Consumers? Evidence from the Italian Market for Bank Deposits," CEIS Research Paper 10, Tor Vergata University, CEIS.
    31. Dario Focarelli & Fabio Panetta, 2003. "Are Mergers Beneficial to Consumers? Evidence from the Market for Bank Deposits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1152-1172, September.
    32. Peters, Craig, 2006. "Evaluating the Performance of Merger Simulation: Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(2), pages 627-649, October.
    33. Matthew C. Weinberg, 2011. "More Evidence on the Performance of Merger Simulations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 51-55, May.
    34. Christopher R. Knittel & Konstantinos Metaxoglou, 2014. "Estimation of Random-Coefficient Demand Models: Two Empiricists' Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 34-59, March.
    35. Matthew C. Weinberg & Daniel Hosken, 2013. "Evidence on the Accuracy of Merger Simulations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1584-1600, December.
    36. Raymond Deneckere & Carl Davidson, 1985. "Incentives to Form Coalitions with Bertrand Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(4), pages 473-486, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charpin, Ariane & Piechucka, Joanna, 2021. "Merger efficiency gains: Evidence from a large transport merger in france," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Xiangrui Wang & Ron C. Mittelhammer & Thomas L. Marsh & Jill J. McCluskey, 2023. "Is Divestiture Effective as a Merger Remedy in the U.S. Beer Industry?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Luca Aguzzoni & Elena Argentesi & Lorenzo Ciari & Tomaso Duso & Massimo Tognoni, 2016. "Ex post Merger Evaluation in the U.K. Retail Market for Books," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 170-200, March.
    4. Policarpo Garcia, Carolina & Furquim de Azevedo, Paulo, 2019. "Should competition authorities care about conglomerate mergers?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 78-118.
    5. John W. Mayo & Mark Whitener, 2021. "The Welfare Effects of Vertical Mergers and their Remedies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(2), pages 409-441, September.
    6. Dennis Rickert & Jan Philip Schain & Joel Stiebale, 2021. "Local Market Structure and Consumer Prices: Evidence from a Retail Merger," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 692-729, September.
    7. Sven Heim & Kai Hüschelrath & Ulrich Laitenberger, 2016. "The Duration of the EC Merger Control Process: Determinants and the Impact of the 2004 Merger Regulation Reform," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 37-62, February.
    8. Stöhr, Annika, 2021. "Price effects of horizontal mergers: A retrospective on retrospectives," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 151, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    9. Michele Fioretti & Junnan He & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Prices and Concentration: A U-shape? Theory and Evidence from Renewables," Papers 2407.03504, arXiv.org.
    10. Wang, Xiangrui & Mittelhammer, Ron C. & Marsh, Thomas L. & McCluskey, Jill J., 2017. "Divestiture of US Businesses May Fail as a Merger Remedy: The Case of the US Beer Industry," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258388, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew & Shaffer, Blake, 2023. "Evaluating the impact of divestitures on competition: Evidence from Alberta’s wholesale electricity market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Franco Mariuzzo & Peter L. Ormosi, 2017. "Post-merger price dynamics matter, so why do merger retrospectives ignore them?," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2016-05, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    13. Friberg, Richard, 2019. "All the bottles in one basket? Diversification and product portfolio composition," CEPR Discussion Papers 14119, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Argentesi, Elena & Buccirossi, Paolo & Cervone, Roberto & Duso, Tomaso & Marrazzo, Alessia, 2016. "The effect of retail mergers on prices and variety: An ex-post evaluation," DICE Discussion Papers 225, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    15. Ariane Charpin & Joanna Piechucka, 2020. "Merger Efficiency Gains: Evidence from a Large Transport Merger in France," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1843, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    16. FUKASAWA Takeshi & OHASHI Hiroshi, 2023. "Long-run Effect of a Horizontal Merger and Its Remedial Standards," Discussion papers 23001, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Romahn, André & Friberg, Richard, 2012. "Ex-Post Merger Review and Divestitures," IESE Research Papers D/1056, IESE Business School.
    2. Bokhari, Farasat A.S. & Mariuzzo, Franco, 2018. "Demand estimation and merger simulations for drugs: Logits v. AIDS," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 653-685.
    3. Christos Genakos & Andreas Lamprinidis & James Walker, 2023. "Evaluating merger effects," CEP Discussion Papers dp1921, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Marie-Laure Allain & Claire Chambolle & Stéphane Turolla & Sofia Villas-Boas, 2013. "The Impact of Retail Mergers on Food Prices: Evidence from France," Working Papers hal-00920460, HAL.
    5. Marie-Laure Allain & Claire Chambolle & Stéphane Turolla & Sofia B. Villas-Boas, 2017. "Retail Mergers and Food Prices: Evidence from France," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 469-509, September.
    6. Xiangrui Wang & Ron C. Mittelhammer & Thomas L. Marsh & Jill J. McCluskey, 2023. "Is Divestiture Effective as a Merger Remedy in the U.S. Beer Industry?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-18, February.
    7. Christos Genakos & Andreas Lamprinidis & James Walker, 2023. "Evaluating merger effects," POID Working Papers 072, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Policarpo Garcia, Carolina & Furquim de Azevedo, Paulo, 2019. "Should competition authorities care about conglomerate mergers?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 78-118.
    9. Genakos, Christos & Lamprinidis, Andreas & Walker, James, 2023. "Evaluating merger effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121325, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Ariane Charpin & Joanna Piechucka, 2020. "Merger Efficiency Gains: Evidence from a Large Transport Merger in France," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1843, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.
    12. Charpin, Ariane & Piechucka, Joanna, 2021. "Merger efficiency gains: Evidence from a large transport merger in france," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Grieco, Paul & Pinkse, Joris & Slade, Margaret, 2018. "Brewed in North America: Mergers, marginal costs, and efficiency," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 24-65.
    14. Robert Clark & Mario Samano, 2022. "Incentivized Mergers and Cost Efficiency: Evidence from the Electricity Distribution Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 791-837, December.
    15. Brito, Duarte & Pereira, Pedro & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2013. "Mergers, coordinated effects and efficiency in the Portuguese non-life insurance industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 554-568.
    16. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken, 2010. "The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Mergers on the Enforcement Margin," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 417-466.
    17. Christopher Conlon & Julie Holland Mortimer, 2021. "Empirical properties of diversion ratios," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 693-726, December.
    18. Koki Arai, 2017. "Ex-post examination of mergers: effects on retail prices," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 145-162, April.
    19. Steven T. Berry & Philip A. Haile, 2021. "Foundations of Demand Estimation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2301, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    20. Jerome Foncel & Marc Ivaldi & Jrisy Motis, 2008. "An Econometric Workbench for Comparing the Substantive and Dominance Tests in Horizontal Merger Analysis," Working Papers 0833, University of Crete, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Divestitures; Merger simulation; Ex-post merger review;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:42:y:2015:i:c:p:1-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505551 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.