Economic Incentives to Merge: Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures Committee on Ways and Means.

摘要

The ownership structure of the daily newspaper industry has been undergoing some rather dramatic changes during the twentieth century. The industry was once dominated by small, family-owned enterprises. In 1910, for example, there existed only 13 companies owning more than a single newspaper firm. Thus, only three percent of all U.S. daily newspapers were members of chains. Today, about 70 percent of all establishments are subsidiaries of larger corporations. Our research project examined the economic causes of this newspaper conglomeration. The research conducted suggests that the increased importance of newspapers chains is not the result of efficiency gains due to conglomeration. The consistent absence of evidence that group ownership matters is quite convincing. There are no measurable advantages in input markets, multifirm scale ecomonies, or differences in the rate of technological diffusion. For the most part, independent firms are indistinguishable frrm newspapers that are subsidiaries of larger corporations. In addition, groups do not significantly alter the performance of the newspapers they purchase.