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Merger Guidelines

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission recently released the 2023 Draft Merger Guidelines on July 19 and called for public comments. Those comments were due on September 18, and more than 1500 public comments are hosted on the agencies’ site.

This page, maintained by the Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, contains a small set of curated comments drawn from those public submissions as well as links to other high-quality articles commenting on the draft merger guidelines. We have focused on comments from economists with research and policy experience, especially those that highlight relevant research findings. This selection of substantive and constructive comments will help agency staff and leaders reform the Guidelines to achieve more effective protection of competition and consumers.

The commenters are listed in alphabetical order, and each name is followed by the file of their comments as well as any supporting literature that was attached to the comment. The list below will continue to be curated and expanded by the TAP team.

Selected Comments and Articles

Jonathan Baker et al.
Comment

David W. Berger et al.
Comment

Stephen Calkins
Comment

Cory S. Capps and Leemore Dafny
ProMarket Article 1 | ProMarket Article 2

Joseph Farrell
Comment 1 | Comment 2 (with Jonathan Baker)

Eleanor Fox
Comment | ProMarket Article 1 | ProMarket Article 2

Herbert Hovenkamp
Abstract | Comment | ProMarket Article 1 | ProMarket Article 2

Fiona Scott Morton
Comment | ProMarket Article

Eric Posner
Comment (with Berger et al.)| ProMarket Article 1 | ProMarket Article 2

Progressive Policy Institute
Comment

Steven C. Salop
Comment | Supplement | ProMarket Article 1 (with Jennifer Sturiale) | ProMarket Article 2

Carl Shapiro
Comment | ProMarket Article 1 | ProMarket Article 2

Lawrence J. White
Comment

Economics Literature Supporting the Revised Merger Guidelines

Under Construction