The FTC and the Department of Justice Have Embraced This Philosophy

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The FTC has analyzed every big supermarket merger for the last 40 years or so. The agencies have allowed those if emerging companies can propose what we call a divestiture. These so-called fixes, these divestitures often fail and they often do not replace the competition that is lost in these deals.

Grocery story giants Kroger and Albertsons want to become one mega-company. The chains say merging will allow them to lower their prices, but antitrust researcher Ron Knox says we should be skeptical.

This episode was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

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