Book Review: THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MERGERS, by Coate, M.B. and Rodriguez, A.E., Monterey, CA: Center for Trade and Commercial Policy, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 1997, x+115 pp, $15.00 (paper)
✍ Scribed by Francois Melese
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 31 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0143-6570
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
BOOK REVIEWS
antitrust policies, one at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and one at the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). With 50 states, the US has the potential of 52 different antitrust policies.
The Economic Analysis of Mergers, by Malcolm B. Coate and A.E. Rodriguez (Monterey Institute, Monterey, 1997) focuses on antitrust policy at the federal level. In 1992 the possible regulatory nightmare of federal tag-team lawsuits was downgraded to a bad dream with the issuance of joint FTC and DOJ Horizontal Merger Guidelines. The 1992 federal merger guidelines are available online at: www.ftc.gov. They are also available in the book by Coate and Rodriguez.
The authors (both with experience at the FTC) reproduce these guidelines, and offer some additional guidance and insights, such as a top ten list of pitfalls to avoid in merger analysis. Their aim is to help business navigate federal antitrust minefields. CEOs, corporate lawyers, expert witnesses, economists and anyone else involved in planning mergers may find this book a useful addition to their antitrust library.
Coate and Rodriguez talk the reader through the stepby-step approach to merger analysis adopted in the 1992 guidelines. The first step is to define the relevant market(s) that might be impacted by the merger. The next is to