The price effects of a large merger of manufacturers: A case study of maytag-whirlpool

Orley C. Ashenfelter, Daniel S. Hosken, Matthew C. Weinberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many experts speculate that US antitrust policy towards horizontal mergers has been too lenient. We estimate the price effects of Whirlpool's acquisition of Maytag to provide new evidence on this debate. We compare price changes in appliance markets most affected by the merger to markets where concentration changed much less or not at all. We estimate price increases for dishwashers and relatively large price increases for clothes dryers, but no price effects for refrigerators or clothes washers. The combined firm's market share fell across all four affected categories, and the number of distinct appliance products offered for sale fell.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)239-261
Number of pages23
JournalAmerican Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

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