Profs. Song Ma and Florian Ederer Honored by Portuguese Competition Authority

Song Ma, assistant professor of finance, and Florian Ederer, associate professor of economics, have won the AdC Competition Policy Award, presented by Autoridade da Concorrência, the Portuguese Competition Authority. The award recognizes outstanding research in antitrust economics and law.

Ma and Ederer, together with Colleen Cunningham of the London Business School, were honored for their paper “Killer Acquisitions.” The much-cited study, which focuses on the pharmaceutical industry, examines the phenomenon of firms buying competitors for the purpose of terminating projects that pose a threat. Among the author’s conclusions was that such acquisitions disproportionately occur just below the threshold that would subject them to the scrutiny of competition authorities.

Earlier this year, “Killer Acquisitions” won the Robert F. Lanzillotti Prize for best paper in antitrust economics. This month, it was cited in a high-profile congressional report on competition in the technology industry.
 

Yale Insights: Song Ma and Florian Ederer discuss “Killer Acquisitions.”