The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Key elements in any merger review are market definition and competitive effects analysis. In this comprehensive program, economists and antitrust lawyers in both private practice and from the antitrust enforcement agencies discuss recent developments in merger review, including the use of critical loss analysis, coordinated interactions principles, and the increased emphasis on unilateral effects. The experts illustrate their points with details from a wide variety of merger cases in the U.S. and Europe.

Antitrust Analysis of Mergers
    I. Market Definition and Critical Loss Analysis
        A. Overview
        B. Historical Perspective
        C. What Is Critical Loss Analysis?
        D. Simple Math
        E. Criticism
        F. Example: Cruise Line Merger
            1. Estimating Critical Loss
            2. Estimating Actual Loss
            3. Analyzing the Result
    II. Coordinated and Unilateral Effects
        A. Introduction
        B. 1982 Merger Guidelines
        C. Concentration
        D. Developments in Coordinated Interaction Analysis
            1. Traditional Approach
            2. Coordinated Interaction Analysis
            3. Elimination of a Pivotal Firm
            4. Asymmetries
            5. Narrowed Opportunities for Disruption
            6. Summary
        E. Analyzing Potential Competitive Effects
            1. Change in Agency Focus
            2. Framework for Analysis
            3. Maverick Theory
        F. Empirical Analysis
            1. Theories of Competitive Harm
            2. Collective Dominance
            3. Evaluating Unilateral Effects
            4. Recent European Commission Cases
        G. Assessing Unilateral Competitive Effects
            1. Narrow Candidate Markets
            2. Kraft/Nabisco Cereals Merger
            3. Using Actual Data
    AfterWords^SM