Why Merger Guidelines Must Do More to Support Productivity, Innovation, and Global Competitiveness

Abstract

Antitrust authorities want to revise merger guidelines based on dubious theories of potential harm that fail to recognize how many mergers foster innovation, productivity, and U.S. global competitiveness. New merger guidelines should better account for these considerations.¹

Report

Conclusion

Over the past 50 years, the merger guidelines have positively shaped U.S. antitrust policies. They have guided corporations and investors on how DOJ and the FTC review acquisitions based on economic considerations. However, despite these successes, these guidelines have significant drawbacks that have caused inconsistent merger analyses, investor and corporate uncertainty, and possible harm to competition and the U.S. economy.

To overcome these limitations, merger guidelines should be amended to provide a more extensive framework for examining the possible impact of mergers on innovation, dynamic competition, potential competition, productivity, and international competitiveness. Such an examination would provide greater clarity and uniformity in merger analysis and help guarantee that mergers are permitted only if they uphold these crucial competition features. Agencies should also ensure that the guidelines adapt to economic changes, new antitrust scholarships, and case law. Antitrust agencies, economists, and legal experts must collaborate to guarantee that the guidelines reflect the latest antitrust policies and practices.

Takeaway: New merger guidelines should better account for these considerations.

Conclusion quoted verbatim from the report.

Notes

1. Aurelien Portuese, Why Merger Guidelines Must Do More to Support Productivity, Innovation, and Global Competitiveness (Info. Tech. & Innovation Found., May 3, 2023), https://itif.org/publications/2023/05/03/merger-guidelines-must-do-more-to-support-productivity-innovation-global-competitiveness/. Summary quoted verbatim from the ITIF publication page, https://itif.org/publications/2023/05/03/merger-guidelines-must-do-more-to-support-productivity-innovation-global-competitiveness/. ↩

Cite as: Aurelien Portuese, Why Merger Guidelines Must Do More to Support Productivity, Innovation, and Global Competitiveness (Info. Tech. & Innovation Found., May 3, 2023), https://itif.org/publications/2023/05/03/merger-guidelines-must-do-more-to-support-productivity-innovation-global-competitiveness/

Header image: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building exterior door.jpg by Sdkb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.