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Topic · Economics and Econometrics

Merger and Competition Analysis

Merger and Competition Analysis is a research topic within Economics and Econometrics. Science Explorer counts 22k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores competition, collusion, and market structure dynamics in various industries. It covers topics such as collusion detection, vertical integration, price discrimination, R&D incentives, the role of leniency programs in antitrust enforcement, and the impact of oligopolistic behavior on market outcomes. The cluster also delves into the complexities of gasoline pricing and the implications for competition policy.

  • Collusion
  • Competition
  • Market Structure
  • Vertical Integration
  • Price Discrimination
  • R&D
  • Leniency Programs
  • Oligopoly
  • Antitrust Policy
  • Gasoline Pricing
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-19%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
38% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Merger and Competition Analysis

Which countries lead Merger and Competition Analysis research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (661 and 312 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 661 works
  2. 2 China 312 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 157 works
  4. 4 Germany 145 works
  5. 5 France 91 works
  6. 6 Japan 88 works
  7. 7 Italy 85 works
  8. 8 India 77 works
  9. 9 Spain 59 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 57 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 38.2%China: 18.0%United Kingdom: 9.0%Germany: 8.4%6 others listed: 26.4%38%largest
United States661 · 38.2%China312 · 18.0%United Kingdom157 · 9.0%Germany145 · 8.4%6 others listed457 · 26.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Merger and Competition Analysis research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Merger and Competition Analysis research, followed by Stanford University and George Mason University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 22 works
  2. 2 Stanford UniversityUnited States 18 works
  3. 3 George Mason UniversityUnited States 18 works
  4. 4 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 15 works
  5. 5 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 14 works
  6. 6 New York UniversityUnited States 14 works
  7. 7 Yale UniversityUnited States 14 works
  8. 8 Zhongnan University of Economics and LawChina 13 works
  9. 9 University of ChicagoUnited States 12 works
  10. 10 Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 11 works

Who are the leading researchers in Merger and Competition Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Merger and Competition Analysis include Andrei Shleifer, David Tilman and Joseph E. Stiglitz.

  1. 1 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  2. 2 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  3. 3 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  4. 4 Michael E. Porter United States 165k citations
  5. 5 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  6. 6 Gary S. Becker United States 148k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Merger and Competition Analysis?

The most cited paper in Merger and Competition Analysis is "Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications." (Daniel Patrick O'Brien, Oliver E. Williamson, 1976), with 13,754 citations. Next come "The economic institutions of capitalism firms, markets, relational contracting" (7,338) and "The Economics of Discrimination." (3,664).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. Daniel Patrick O'Brien, Oliver E. Williamson · The Economic Journal Sep 1976 13,754
2 The economic institutions of capitalism firms, markets, relational contracting Oliver E. Williamson 1985 7,338
3 The Economics of Discrimination. David A. Collard, Gary S. Becker · The Economic Journal Jun 1972 3,664
4 Politicians and Firms Andrei Shleifer, Robert W. Vishny · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Nov 1994 3,443
5 Plants and Productivity in International Trade Andrew B. Bernard, Jonathan Eaton, J. Bradford Jensen et al. · American Economic Review Aug 2003 3,017
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Merger and Competition Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Merger and Competition Analysis research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Washington D.C. (United States), New York (United States) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Washington D.C..

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 63 works
  2. 2 Washington D.C.United States 62 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 48 works
  4. 4 BeijingChina 45 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 32 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 30 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 27 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 26 works
  9. 9 NanjingChina 25 works
  10. 10 ChicagoUnited States 23 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Washington D.C.US · 62.1 works7.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Merger and Competition Analysis than the world average.

See Merger and Competition Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Merger and Competition Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 15.47%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Califo…Zhongnan University …Yale UniversityStanford University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Stanford UniversityUnited States 80.311.4%6.0×18 +8.9%
2University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 69.823.6%7.5×15 -7.3%
3Zhongnan University of Economics and LawChina 69.021.0%61.5×13 +45.1%
4Yale UniversityUnited States 67.613.6%6.2×14 +28.6%
5University of ChicagoUnited States 64.420.7%7.0×12 -23.8%
6Heinrich Heine University DüsseldorfGermany 58.310.7%12.4×9 +21.6%
7University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 54.610.5%6.6×14 -26.9%
8New York UniversityUnited States 48.08.6%5.9×14 -27.5%
9University of PisaItaly 46.615.6%8.3×8 +19.3%
10Tilburg UniversityNetherlands 44.919.0%27.1×9 -30.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Merger and Competition Analysis, country by country

Is Merger and Competition Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 19% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2010.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Merger and Competition Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Merger and Competition Analysis0.0087% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Merger and Competition Analysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Merger and Competition Analysis11.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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