D’Annunzio, Anna, Lefouili, Yassine, Jullien, Bruno and Madio, Leonardo (2026) Mergers and Investments in New Products. International Journal of Industrial Organization. (In Press)

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Abstract

This paper examines how horizontal mergers affect firms’ incentives to invest in R&D leading to the development of new products. We characterize the impact of a merger to monopoly and a 3-to-2 merger on equilibrium innovation efforts and consumer surplus, absent efficiency gains and spillovers. We show that a 3-to-2 merger directly alters the outsider’s innovation incentives by shifting its best-response function upward, and we analyze how this mechanism affects merger outcomes for innovation and consumer surplus. Finally, we examine how efficiency gains and remedies modify post-merger innovation efforts.