Evaluating the Evidence on Vertical Mergers

In theory, vertical mergers can have both procompetitive and anticompetitive effects. Many early empirical studies found benefits for vertical relationships; but the seminal surveys of this literature are now over a decade old. We review the empirical evidence from the last decade on vertical integration—as well as that in two frequently cited surveys from the mid-2000s. Taken as a whole, the empirical evidence as to the change in welfare that is due to vertical mergers is decidedly mixed, and should certainly not be used as a basis for a presumption that most vertical mergers are pro-competitive or harmless.