The Effect of Mergers in Search Markets: Evidence from the Canadian Mortgage Industry
利用加拿大抵押贷款市场并购带来的变化，研究市场集中度与价格离散的关系，发现并购削弱消费者议价能力，仅惠及交易价格分布中低端消费者，且平均效应低估了市场势力的增强。
We examine the relationship between concentration and price dispersion using variation induced by a merger in the Canadian mortgage market. Since interest rates are determined through a search and negotiation process, consolidation weakens consumers' bargaining positions. We use reduced-form techniques to estimate the mergers' distributional impact, and show that competition benefits only consumers at the bottom and middle of the transaction price distribution, and that mergers reduce the dispersion of prices. We illustrate that these effects can be explained by the presence of search frictions, and that the average effect of mergers on rates underestimates the increase in market power.