Digging deep to compete: vertical integration, product market competition and prices
This article establishes a causal effect of product market competition on vertical integration. I exploit a hitherto unexplored natural experiment in the US coal mining industry and a unique mine-level organizational data set. Following an exogenous increase in product market competition the inciden...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47206/ |
| Summary: | This article establishes a causal effect of product market competition on vertical integration. I exploit a hitherto unexplored natural experiment in the US coal mining industry and a unique mine-level organizational data set. Following an exogenous increase in product market competition the incidence of vertical integration fell by 33% within the treatment group relative to the counterfactual. I find novel evidence that transition to the lower degree of vertical integration is driven by competition reducing market prices by 32% which decreased the incentive to conduct vertical mergers. I discuss several possible interpretations of these changes. |
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