In recent years, regulators and other interested parties have advocated for increased attention to non-price effects of mergers, particularly when data is a key input but not the main product of the merging parties. In these mergers, economic analysis has sometimes shown that the resulting combined datasets may have an adverse impact on competition or consumer welfare. In “Is Data ‘The New Oil’? Non-Price Effects of Mergers in Data-Intensive Industries,” an article published in CPI Antitrust Chronicle, three Analysis Group consultants analyze these non-price effects and their potential consequences for competition.
In the article, Managing Principals Emily Cotton and Rebecca Kirk Fair and Vice President Philipp Tillmann examine three topics that antitrust authorities and industry observers have raised as particularly concerning with respect to anticompetitive effects: potential entrenchment, data privacy, and potential foreclosure from data inputs. The authors discuss both the potential effects of these topics and remind readers that investigations into their impacts should consider not only anticompetitive aspects but the potential gains in quality, data security and privacy, and production efficiencies from such mergers.
Associated People
Philipp Tillmann
Dr. Tillmann is an economist who specializes in the application of microeconomics, econometrics, and statistical methods to litigation matters, investigations, and strategy assignments. He has served as an expert witness and has supported expert witnesses, managed case teams, and conducted analyses in merger, cartel, abuse of dominance, and other matters across a broad range of industries and jurisdictions, including in the EU, the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
He regularly assists clients across all phases of merger cases, from pre-announcement through investigation, litigation, and compliance monitoring. His clients include merging parties, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorneys general.
Dr. Tillmann holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and his research has appeared in outlets such as the Journal of Competition Law & Economics and the American Journal of Political Science. He has taught economics to undergraduate and graduate students at The University of Chicago, the University of Rochester, and the University of Cologne.