The Law and Economics of Enhancing Cartel Enforcement: Using Information from Non-Cartel Investigations to Prosecute Cartels

I present the following proposal: information revealed during non-cartel investigations by competition law enforcement authorities, such as evaluation of M&As or investigation of monopolization (dominance) conduct, should be directly used to investigate and prosecute cartels. Currently, in several jurisdictions, information acquired in, for example, a M&A investigation typically cannot be directly used for a cartel case due to the underlying statutes and the legal and administrative procedures that govern information use. Reviewing the management and corporate strategy literature, I note that M&As form a vital part of firms’ core business strategy, with the longer-run strategic aspects being more important. These longer-run strategies could be jeopardized if the firms were engaging in collusion, as the likelihood of detection and prosecution would increase under the proposed rule change, which would punish bad (collusive) behavior. I argue that irrespective of exactly how many cartels are actually prosecuted via this channel, the proposal has the likelihood of creating a meaningful deterrence effect. I also discuss the potential downsides related to Type 1 errors and administrative costs. Overall, I argue that the proposed rule change could increase the efficiency and effectiveness of cartel enforcement, and open an additional front in the fight against hardcore cartels that operate within jurisdictions as well as internationally.cartels, enforcement, law and economics

Regime Shift in Antitrust

This paper empirically models the longer-run deep-seated shift in intellectual thinking that followed the Chicago School’s criticism of the older antitrust doctrine, the shorter-run driving forces related to switches of the political party in power, merger waves, changes in economic activity and the level of funding and quantifies their impact on enforcement by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice over the period 1958-2002. The key findings are: (1) a distinct regime-shift in antitrust enforcement during the 1970s and, post-regime-shift, there has been a marked compositional change with a quantitatively large increase (decrease) in criminal (civil) antitrust court cases initiated; (2) post-regime-shift, there appears to be a change in the role played by politics with Republicans initiating more (less) criminal (civil) court cases than Democrats and the estimated quantitative effects are large; (3) disaggregating the total number of court cases into the main categories under which they are initiated (price-fixing, mergers, monopolization and restraints-of-trade) shows that individual types of cases have widely differing responses to changes in the driving forces; and (4) in a horse-race between the regime-shift and political effect on one side and the remaining variables on the other, the former forces win hands-down in explaining broad shifts in enforcement. Modeling the longer-run shift and disaggregating the court cases emerge as crucial to gaining insights into the intertemporal shifts in enforcement. The paper elaborates on the causes for the shift in enforcement and on the effectiveness of antitrust.Antitrust enforcement; regime-shift; politics; supreme court; effectiveness

Endemic Volatility of Firms and Establishments: Are Real Options Effects Important?

Consider the intertemporal volatility of the number of firms and establishments within an industry over a relatively long span of time. Data from the U.S. manufacturing sector shows that this degree of endemic volatility varies widely across industries. Examining the determinants of this volatility is important in its own right as it reflects on the underlying forces governing entry and exit. In addition, data shows that the volatility of firms and establishments is significantly correlated with the volatility of the number of production and nonproduction workers employed in an industry. The primary focus of this paper is to evaluate the role played by the real options channel which suggests that sunk costs and uncertainty may be important determinants of the degree of volatility of the number of firms. We also control for other factors related to advertisingintensity, industry growth and technological change. An advantage of the manufacturing industry dataset we use in this study is that it combines the annual timeseries data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures with data from the five-yearly Census of Manufactures. This allows us to construct measures of uncertainty about profits, sunk capital costs, technological change, among others. Our key findings are: (1) industries with higher sunk capital costs and profit uncertainty have significantly lower endemic volatility of the number of firms and establishments; and (2) these relationships are non-linear as suggested by theory with even small amounts of sunk costs or profit uncertainty contributing to significantly lower firm volatility. Our findings appear broadly consistent with the predictions of the real options channel. We highlight some implications of our findings for antitrust/competition policy and labor market dynamics. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Endemische Volatilität von Unternehmen und die Bedeutung von 'real option effects') Betrachtet man die intertemporale Schwankung der Anzahl von Unternehmen eines Industriezweigs über einen relativ langen Zeitraum, so zeigen Daten der U.S.amerikanischen verarbeitenden Industrie eine große Variation des Grades dieser endemischen Schwankungen zwischen unterschiedlichen Industriezweigen. Die Untersuchung der Determinanten dieser Volatilität ist für sich genommen bedeutsam, indem sie die Hintergründe für den Markteintritt und - austritt von Firmen beleuchtet. Darüber hinaus lässt sich eine hohe Korrelation zwischen der Schwankung in der Anzahl der Unternehmen und der Volatilität der Zahl der Arbeiter, die in der Produktion und in nicht-produzierenden Tätigkeiten beschäftigt sind, herstellen. Das Hauptaugenmerk dieses Papier ist es zu bewerten, welche Rolle der 'real options'- Kanal spielt, was impliziert, dass 'sunk costs' und Unsicherheit entscheidende Bestimmungsfaktoren für den Grad an Volatilität der Unternehmenszahl sind. Bei der Untersuchung werden auch andere Faktoren, die mit Werbungsintensität, Industriewachstum und technologischem Wandel verbunden sind, kontrolliert. Ein Vorteil des in der Analyse verwandten Datensatzes liegt darin, dass er jährliche Zeitreihendaten aus dem Jahresbericht des verarbeitenden Gewerbes der U.S.A. (Annual Survey of Manufacturers) mit Daten des Zensus des verarbeitenden Gewerbes, der fünfmal im Jahr erhoben wird, kombiniert. Das gestattet die Konstruktion von Maßzahlen zur Unsicherheit über Gewinne, versunkene Kapitalkosten, technologischen Wandel, etc.. Die Hauptergebnisse der Untersuchung sind: (1) Industriezweige mit höheren versunkenen Kapitalkosten und Gewinnunsicherheit zeichnen sich durch signifikant geringere endemische Volatilität in der Anzahl der Unternehmen aus; (2) diese Beziehungen sind nicht-linear, wie bereits die Theorie vermuten lässt, die besagt, dass schon geringe 'sunk costs' oder Gewinnunsicherheit zu bedeutend geringerer Schwankungsbreite in der Unternehmenszahl beitragen. Die Ergebnisse scheinen insgesamt mit den Aussagen zum 'real options'- Kanal übereinzustimmen. Einige Implikationen der Resultate für die 'Antitrust'- und Wettbewerbspolitik sowie Arbeitsmarkt-dynamik werden herausgestellt.Firm and establishment volatility; sunk capital costs; profit uncertainty; technological change; antitrust/competition policy; employment dynamics

Impact of Uncertainty and Sunk Costs on Firm Survival and Industry Dynamics

In theory, uncertainty and sunk costs can influence industry dynamics through the option value and financing constraints channels. Empirical evaluation of these models in the context of industry dynamics are, however, at a nascent stage. Our empirical analysis, covering 267 U.S. manufacturing industries over a 30-year period, reveals that greater uncertainty (i) decreases the number of small firms and establishments in high sunk cost industries, (ii) has virtually no impact on larger establishments, (iii) results in a less skewed size distribution of firms and establishments in high sunk cost industries and (iv) marginally increases industry output concentration. Addressing the recent literature, we also control for technological change and our estimates show that technical progress decreases the number of small firms and establishments in an industry. While past studies have emphasized technological change as a key driver of industry dynamics, our results indicate that uncertainty and sunk costs play a crucial role. Our findings could be useful for the study of firm survival, models of creative destruction, evolution of firm size distribution, mergers and acquisitions and competition policy.

Endemic volatility of firms and establishments: are real options effects important?

"Consider the intertemporal volatility of the number of firms and establishments within an industry over a relatively long span of time. Data from the U.S. manufacturing sector shows that this degree of endemic volatility varies widely across industries. Examining the determinants of this volatility is important in its own right as it reflects on the underlying forces governing entry and exit. In addition, data shows that the volatility of firms and establishments is significantly correlated with the volatility of the number of production and nonproduction workers employed in an industry. The primary focus of this paper is to evaluate the role played by the real options channel which suggests that sunk costs and uncertainty may be important determinants of the degree of volatility of the number of firms. We also control for other factors related to advertising intensity, industry growth and technological change. An advantage of the manufacturing industry dataset we use in this study is that it combines the annual timeseries data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures with data from the five-yearly Census of Manufactures. This allows us to construct measures of uncertainty about profits, sunk capital costs, technological change, among others. Our key findings are: (1) industries with higher sunk capital costs and profit uncertainty have significantly lower endemic volatility of the number of firms and establishments, and (2) these relationships are non-linear as suggested by theory with even small amounts of sunk costs or profit uncertainty contributing to significantly lower firm volatility. Our findings appear broadly consistent with the predictions of the real options channel. We highlight some implications of our findings for antitrust/ competition policy and labor market dynamics." (author's abstract)"Betrachtet man die intertemporale Schwankung der Anzahl von Unternehmen eines Industriezweigs über einen relativ langen Zeitraum, so zeigen Daten der U.S.-amerikanischen verarbeitenden Industrie eine große Variation des Grades dieser endemischen Schwankungen zwischen unterschiedlichen Industriezweigen. Die Untersuchung der Determinanten dieser Volatilität ist für sich genommen bedeutsam, indem sie die Hintergründe für den Markteintritt und - austritt von Firmen beleuchtet. Darüber hinaus lässt sich eine hohe Korrelation zwischen der Schwankung in der Anzahl der Unternehmen und der Volatilität der Zahl der Arbeiter, die in der Produktion und in nicht-produzierenden Tätigkeiten beschäftigt sind, herstellen. Das Hauptaugenmerk dieses Papier ist es zu bewerten, welche Rolle der 'real options'-Kanal spielt, was impliziert, dass 'sunk costs' und Unsicherheit entscheidende Bestimmungsfaktoren für den Grad an Volatilität der Unternehmenszahl sind. Bei der Untersuchung werden auch andere Faktoren, die mit Werbungsintensität, Industriewachstum und technologischem Wandel verbunden sind, kontrolliert. Ein Vorteil des in der Analyse verwandten Datensatzes liegt darin, dass er jährliche Zeitreihendaten aus dem Jahresbericht des verarbeitenden Gewerbes der U.S.A. (Annual Survey of Manufacturers) mit Daten des Zensus des verarbeitenden Gewerbes, der fünfmal im Jahr erhoben wird, kombiniert. Das gestattet die Konstruktion von Maßzahlen zur Unsicherheit über Gewinne, versunkene Kapitalkosten, technologischen Wandel, etc. Die Hauptergebnisse der Untersuchung sind: 1. Industriezweige mit höheren versunkenen Kapitalkosten und Gewinnunsicherheit zeichnen sich durch signifikant geringere endemische Volatilität in der Anzahl der Unternehmen aus; 2. diese Beziehungen sind nicht-linear, wie bereits die Theorie vermuten lässt, die besagt, dass schon geringe 'sunk costs' oder Gewinnunsicherheit zu bedeutend geringerer Schwankungsbreite in der Unternehmenszahl beitragen. Die Ergebnisse scheinen insgesamt mit den Aussagen zum 'real options'-Kanal übereinzustimmen. Einige Implikationen der Resultate für die 'Antitrust'- und Wettbewerbspolitik sowie Arbeitsmarktdynamik werden herausgestellt." (Autorenreferat

Impact of uncertainty and sunk costs on firm survival and industry dynamics

"This paper examines the role played by uncertainty and sunk costs on the time series fluctuations in industry structure as captured by the number of firms and establishments, and concentration. Using an extensive dataset covering 267 U.S. manufacturing industries over a 30-year period, our estimates show that time periods of greater uncertainty, especially in conjunction with higher sunk costs, results in: (1) decrease in the number of small firms and establishments, (2) less skewed size distribution of firms and establishments, and (3) marginal increase in industry output concentration. Large establishments are virtually unaffected. We also control for technological change and our estimates show that technical progress decreases the number of small firms and establishments in an industry. While past studies have emphasized technological change as a key driver of industry dynamics, our results indicate that uncertainty and sunk costs play a crucial role. Our findings could be useful for competition policy, study of firm survival, models of creative destruction, evolution of firm size distribution, and mergers and acquisitions." (author's abstract)"In diesem Diskussionspapier wird die Rolle untersucht, die Unsicherheit und 'sunk costs' auf die Zeitreihenfluktuationen in der Industriestruktur, wie sie durch die Anzahl der Unternehmen abgebildet wird, und in der Unternehmenskonzentration haben. Dafür wird ein umfassender Datensatz verwendet, der 267 Firmen des verarbeitenden Gewerbes in den U.S.A. über einen Zeitraum von 30 Jahren enthält. Unsere Schätzungen zeigen, dass sich Zeiten größerer Ungewissheit auf die Industrie auswirken, vor allem wenn die Unsicherheit mit höheren 'sunk costs' verbunden ist, indem 1. die Zahl kleinerer Unternehmen abnimmt, 2. die Verteilung der Unternehmen nach ihrer Größe weniger schief verteilt ist, und 3. ein Grenzzuwachs an Outputkonzentration der Industrie zu verzeichnen ist. Große Einrichtungen bleiben dagegen nahezu unberührt. Wir haben unsere Untersuchung darüber hinaus auf technologischen Wandel hin kontrolliert und festgestellt, dass die technische Weiterentwicklung die Zahl der kleinen Unternehmen eines Industriezweigs ebenfalls reduziert. Während frühere Studien gerade den technologischen Wandel als den treibenden Faktor für die dynamische Entwicklung von Industrien herausgestellt haben, weisen unsere Ergebnisse allerdings den Faktoren Unsicherheit und 'sunk-costs' die entscheidende Rolle zu. Diese Ergebnisse können fruchtbar für weitere Studien im Bereich der Wettbewerbspolitik sein, für Studien zum Überleben von Firmen, für Modelle kreativer Zerstörung, der Evolution von Firmengrößenverteilung und nicht zuletzt für Unternehmensaufkäufe und -zusammenschlüsse (M&A)." (Autorenreferat

Investments in Modernization, Innovation and Gains in Productivity: Evidence from Firms in the Global Paper Industry

This paper examines the impact of investments in modernization and innovation on productivity in a sample of firms in the global pulp and paper industry. This industry is important because it has traditionally accounted for significant amounts of employment and capital investment in North America and Europe. In contrast to much of the existing literature which focuses on the impact of R&D and patents on firms’ performance and productivity, we examine data on actual investment transactions in four main areas of operations: (i) mechanical, (ii) chemicals, (iii) monitoring devices and (iv) information technology. We find that firms which made decisions to implement a greater number of investment transactions in modernization achieved higher productivity, and these estimated quantitative effects are greater than the impact of standard innovation variables such as patents and R&D. Investment transactions in the information technology and digital monitoring devices imparted a particularly noticeable boost to productivity. These results are obtained after controlling for other firm-specific variables such as capital-intensity and mergers and acquisitions. Two broad messages emerge from our study. First, firms’ decisions to undertake investments in modernization and various forms of incremental innovations appear to be critical for achieving gains in productivity. While these may typically generate small gains on a year-to-year basis, they can compound to form meaningful differences in performance, productivity and competitive position across firms in the longer-run. Second, for some of the traditional industries like pulp and paper, R&D and patents seem to be particularly poor indicators of innovation and, more generally, how firms go about achieving gains in productivity. While this paper focuses on the pulp and paper industry, our broad framework and methodology is general and can be applied to understanding firms’ strategies related to enhancing performance and productivity in a variety of industries.Pulp and paper industry; investment; modernization; innovation; productivity; organizational behavior

Impact of Uncertainty and Sunk Costs on Firm Survival and Industry Dynamics

This paper examines the role played by uncertainty and sunk costs on the timeseries fluctuations in industry structure as captured by the number of firms and establishments, and concentration. Using an extensive dataset covering 267 U.S. manufacturing industries over a 30-year period, our estimates show that time periods of greater uncertainty, especially in conjunction with higher sunk costs, results in: (i) decrease in the number of small firms and establishments; (ii) less skewed size distribution of firms and establishments; and (iii) marginal increase in industry output concentration. Large establishments are virtually unaffected. We also control for technological change and our estimates show that technical progress decreases the number of small firms and establishments in an industry. While past studies have emphasized technological change as a key driver of industry dynamics, our results indicate that uncertainty and sunk costs play a crucial role. Our findings could be useful for competition policy, study of firm survival, models of creative destruction, evolution of firm size distribution, and mergers and acquisitions. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Die Bedeutung von Unsicherheit und 'sunk costs' für das Überleben von Unternehmen und die Weiterentwicklung von Industrien) In diesem Diskussionspapier wird die Rolle untersucht, die Unsicherheit und 'sunk costs' auf die Zeitreihenfluktuationen in der Industriestruktur, wie sie durch die Anzahl der Unternehmen abgebildet wird, und in der Unternehmenskonzentration haben. Dafür wird ein umfassender Datensatz verwendet, der 267 Firmen des verarbeitenden Gewerbes in den U.S.A. über einen Zeitraum von 30 Jahren enthält. Unsere Schätzungen zeigen, daß sich Zeiten größerer Ungewißheit auf die Industrie auswirken, vor allem wenn die Unsicherheit mit höheren sunkcosts verbunden ist, indem (i) die Zahl kleinerer Unternehmen abnimmt; (ii) die Verteilung der Unternehmen nach ihrer Größe weniger schief-verteilt ist; und (iii) ein Grenzzuwachs an Outputkonzentration der Industrie zu verzeichnen ist. Große Einrichtungen bleiben dagegen nahezu unberührt. Wir habe unsere Untersuchung darüberhinaus auf technologischen Wandel hin kontrolliert und festgestellt, daß die technische Weiterentwicklung die Zahl der kleinen Unternehmen eines Industriezweigs ebenfalls reduziert. Während frühere Studien gerade den technologischen Wandel als den treibenden Faktor für die dynamische Entwicklung von Industrien herausgestellt haben, weisen unsere Ergebnisse allerdings den Faktoren Unsicherheit und 'sunk-costs' die entscheidende Rolle zu. Diese Ergebnisse können fruchtbar für weitere Studien im Bereich der Wettbewerbspolitik sein, für Studien zum Überleben von Firmen, für Modelle kreativer Zerstörung, der Evolution von Firmengrößenverteilung und nicht zuletzt für Unternehmensaufkäufe und -zusammenschlüsse (M&A).Industry dynamics, firm survival, firm size distribution, uncertainty, sunk costs, technological change, creative destruction, option value, financing constraints.

Small is Beautiful but Size Matters: The Asymmetric Impact of Uncertainty and Sunk Costs on Small and Large Businesses

Against the backdrop of the theories developed in the real options and financing constraints literatures, this paper examines the impact of profit uncertainty and sunk costs on firms’ entry and exit decisions. For our empirical analysis, we compile an extensive dataset containing information on 267 U.S. manufacturing industries over a 30-year period containing industry-specific information on the number of firms and establishments, the size distribution of establishments, measures of sunk capital costs and profit uncertainty, among others. Our dynamic panel data estimates show that greater uncertainty about profits, especially in conjunction with higher sunk costs, results in (1) a marked decrease in the number of small firms and establishments; (2) a less skewed size distribution of firms and establishments; and (3) a marginal increase in industry output concentration. In sharp contrast, large establishments seem virtually unaffected. The results point to uncertainty in conjunction with sunk costs fundamentally affecting firms’ decision-making and altering the structure of industries by putting smaller businesses at a disadvantage.Uncertainty; sunk costs; real options; financing constraints; decision-making; small businesses

Business Strategy and Firm Reorganization under Changing Market Conditions

This study is framed against the increasingly stringent environmental demands on the pulp and paper industry since the late-1980s to reduce water and air pollution, and the global economic slowdown of the early-1990s. The primary focus of this paper is an observation-based analysis conducted by visiting selected paper mills in Finland, the U.S., Germany and Sweden. I find interesting differences and similarities in the firms’ strategies in terms of how they responded to these changes in market conditions. Some of the observed differences lie in their focus on achieving (incremental) cost-efficiency gains from better management of the production processes, inventories, supply-chain, product distribution, and timing of modernization investments, including ICT. The second part of the paper presents evidence on firms’ productivity paths, and the heterogeneity in productivity among relatively similar firms. I also present selected evidence of these firms’ investments in specific areas and how they affected their productivity. The observation of important intra-industry differences across relatively similar firms lends credence to the insights provided by Denrell, Fang and Winter (2003) and Zott (2003), among others. The findings have implications for the study of organizational behavior and business strategies employed by firms to improve their performance and productivity under changing market conditions. We end with some comments on how to assess innovative activity in traditional industries such as pulp and paper.incremental innovation, ICT investments, modernization investments, competitive advantage, production management, supply-chain management