Lear’s economists at the ACM – Presentation of the ex post merger evaluation study in the Dutch grocery sector

On Thursday 11 December, Roberto Cervone and Alessia Marrazzo will present at the Dutch competition authority (Autoriteit Consument & Markt, “ACM”) a report on the ex-post evaluation of three merger decisions in the Dutch grocery sector.

The report investigates the effect of three mergers among major supermarket chains between 2009 and 2012. All the three mergers have been cleared subject to stores’ divestiture or to an adjustment of the merger proposal.
Lear explores both the effects on price dimensions and non-price dimensions (such as products’ variety and the provision of ancillary services). The analysis makes use of both quantitative tools (in particular the difference in differences method and econometric techniques) and qualitative tools (questionnaires and interviews to market participants). The study draws interesting conclusions on the effectiveness of the decisions undertaken by the ACM. The report will be soon published and available on line.

To see the pubblication click here