The Merger Guidelines set forth the analytic framework the federal antitrust agencies used to evaluate the reasonably probable competitive effects of mergers, acquisitions and long-term joint ventures. There have been several versions since first released in 1968, all adopting then-current economic analysis of firm behavior as the framework for antitrust merger enforcement policy. Bill Blumenthal, a former General Counsel of the FTC, and Doug Melamed, a former DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, join the show to discuss whether the proposed revised Merger Guidelines are consistent with current economic learning and legal doctrine, and if the courts will adopt them as a sensible approach to interpreting Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
William Blumenthal profile page
Our comment for the 2023 proposed draft merger guidelines
Our comments for the 2022 RFI on merger enforcement guidelines
Doug Melamed: Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral
1992 Horizontal Merger Guidelines
1997 Horizontal Merger Guidelines
2006 Commentary on Horizontal Merger Guidelines
2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines
2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines