Einer Elhauge, Harvard Law School
The Research Program on Law and Market Behavior at Notre Dame Law School recently hosted a Symposium on Antitrust and Corporate Governance.
The event, “The Antitrust Implications of Horizontal Shareholders,” gathered legal and business scholars to talk about the intersection of corporate governance and antitrust law, focusing on the recent work of Einer Elhauge, Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Simone Sepe, a visiting professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and program director in law at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, France, introduced the issues.
Elhauge explained that horizontal shareholdings exist when a common set of investors own significant shares in corporations that are competitors in a product market.
He explained how economic models show that substantial horizontal shareholdings are likely to lead to anticompetitive price increases when businesses compete in a concentrated market. He stated that recent empirical research not only confirms this prediction, but also reveals that such horizontal shareholdings are quite common in our economy.
Martin Schmalz, the NBD Bancorp Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and Martijn Cremers, professor of finance in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame and LAMB faculty fellow followed with a discussion of the emerging empirical evidence on horizontal shareholding.
Jonathan Baker, professor of law, American University Washington College of Law and Dan Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, Michigan Law School continued with presentations on the legal implications that surround horizontal shareholding.
A roundtable discussion and debate among the speakers, moderated by Avishalom Tor, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and ND LAMB director, concluded the event.
The Larry Bonner Endowment for Excellence in Commodities and Securities law co-sponsored the symposium.
Martijn Cremers, University of Notre Dame