In most horizontal merger reviews, the focus is on the potential for increasing monopoly power, which adversely affects the output market through increased price and reduced quantity, quality, and product variety. For the most part, a merger’s effect on the input markets has been ignored. Recently, however, academics and policymakers have called for considering a merger’s potential for creating or enhancing buyer power in one or more input markets. A good deal of this concern has centered on monopsony in labour markets as real wages have stagnated and labour’s share of income has declined. In order to address the monopsony concern in the USA, Senator Amy Klobuchar proposed a bill that would amend section 7 of the Clayton Act to explicitly include monopsony concerns in merger review. In this article, we explore the economic foundation and empirical evidence for this rising tide of concern with particular emphasis on the labour market. We broaden the significance of our analysis by pointing to allegations of monopsonistic abuse outside labour markets. Finally, we discuss practical problems of implementing monopsony considerations in merger review and the benefits to consumer welfare that may arise.

中文翻译：

---

并购审查中买方权力的考虑

在大多数横向合并审查中，重点是增加垄断力量的潜力，这通过增加价格和减少数量、质量和产品种类对输出市场产生不利影响。在大多数情况下，合并对投入市场的影响被忽略了。然而，最近，学者和政策制定者呼吁考虑合并在一个或多个投入市场中创造或增强购买力的潜力。这种担忧主要集中在劳动力市场的垄断上，因为实际工资停滞不前，劳动力在收入中的份额下降了。为了解决美国的垄断问题，参议员 Amy Klobuchar 提出了一项法案，将修改《克莱顿法案》第 7 条，明确将垄断问题纳入合并审查。在本文中，我们探讨了这一日益高涨的关注浪潮的经济基础和经验证据，特别强调了劳动力市场。我们通过指出劳动力市场之外的垄断滥用指控来扩大我们分析的意义。最后，我们讨论了在合并审查中实施垄断考虑的实际问题以及可能产生的对消费者福利的好处。