What Can Be Expected from Mergers after Deregulation? The Case of the Long-Distance Bus Industry in France

Thierry Blayac and Patrice Bougette

No 2022-34, GREDEG Working Papers from Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France

Abstract: This study estimates the competitive effects of horizontal mergers in the French long-distance bus industry. We examine the two mergers that followed the 2015 Deregulation Act (the Macron Law); we use an exclusive and exhaustive dataset that covers eight consecutive quarters. We analyze the merger effects by comparing bus links that were affected by mergers with those that were unaffected; we use difference-in-differences estimations. We find that the two mergers are associated with price increases of about 13.5% immediately that then moderate to 5.3%; and with the frequency decreases from -21.5% to -25.7%; we observe no effects on load factors. These findings show evidence of short-run anticompetitive effects, while the mergers under study were not scrutinized by the French competition agency, as they were below the notification thresholds.

Keywords: Long-distance bus industry; Mergers and acquisitions; Deregulated industry; Consolidation; Intramodal competition; Difference-in-differences estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K21 L12 L40 L42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-eff, nep-reg, nep-tre and nep-ure
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Related works:
Journal Article: What can be Expected from Mergers After Deregulation? The Case of the Long-Distance Bus Industry in France (2023)
Working Paper: What can be Expected from Mergers After Deregulation? The Case of the Long-Distance Bus Industry in France (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gre:wpaper:2022-34

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