美国反垄断政策的百年变迁:基于并购重组的考察

Political Economy of Antitrust Policy in the United States

过去一百多年里,因应保护小生产者、消费者福利、国际竞争力、世界战争等国内国际因素,受哈佛学派、芝加哥学派等占主导地位的政治经济意识形态影响,美国的反垄断政策目标在不同的时期各有侧重。无论是主动的还是被动的,围绕并购重组的反垄断政策一直扮演着“胡萝卜加大棒”的角色,深刻地影响着美国的市场结构、企业行为与产业发展。从实际政策效果来看,无论是“胡萝卜”还是“大棒”政策,都未能切实阻止美国企业并购重组的总体趋势。尤其是,自20世纪70、80年代以来,无论是美国政府的反垄断指数的提高,还是生产、研发、营销和采购环节合作的许可,或是在特定领域的反垄断豁免,都使美国企业旨在实现规模经济与技术创新的并购重组在更大程度上成为可能,也引领和塑造了美国半导体、飞机制造业和微软公司被控垄断案的方向。在全球产业集中和竞争依然激烈的大背景下,后发国家如何在做好有效监管的同时通过并购重组培育本土大企业,美国这样的发达国家关于反垄断政策的经验和教训值得研究参考。

Over the past one century and more,in response to the domestic and international factors such as the protection of small producers,consumer welfare,international competitiveness,and world war,influenced by the dominant political and economic ideologies such as Harvard School and Chicago School,the goals of antitrust policy in the United States varied greatly in different periods.No matter active or reactive,the antitrust policy for mergers and acquisitions has always played a role of“carrot and stick”,and profoundly affected the market structure,corporate behavior and industrial development in the United States.Judging from the actual policy effect,neither the“carrot”nor“stick”policy has been able to effectively prevent the general trend of mergers and acquisitions of American companies.Benefiting from the improvement of the US government's antitrust index,the license for cooperation in production,R&D,marketing,and procurement,and the antitrust exemption in specific areas since the 1970s and 1980s,mergers and acquisitions for economies of scale and technological innovation have been easier than before.These policies have also affected and shaped the direction of the US semiconductor,aircraft manufacturing and the Microsoft's case accused of monopoly.Under the background of global industrial concentration and fierce competition,it is worth learning the experience and lessons from the US antitrust policy,particularly for those latedeveloped countries which aim to cultivate the local large enterprises through mergers and acquisitions while regulate them effectively.