ICLE Scholars on Failed Merger Predictions

National Review – ICLE Scholars Brian Albrecht, Dirk Auer, Eric Fruits, and Geoffrey A. Manne were cited by National Review in an item about ICLE’s white paper on “doomsday mergers.” You can read full piece here.

Economists at the International Center for Law and Economics have written a paper looking back at a different species of false alarm that we often hear from the media: doomsday mergers.

Brian Albrecht, Dirk Auer, Eric Fruits, and Geoffrey Manne recount the predictions made about six mergers that were allowed to take place despite considerable backlash from progressives. They looked at Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods, consolidation in the beer industry, Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto, Google’s purchase of Fitbit, Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp, and Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

“Our retrospective analysis shows that many of the alarmist predictions of the past were completely untethered from prevailing market realities, as well as far removed from the outcomes that emerged after the mergers,” they write.

They look at indicators such as stock prices, market share, and financial performance to evaluate the claims made by progressives before the mergers took place. The paper has copious citations to news reports, academic papers, and relevant statistics to back up their analysis.