Building new plants or entering by acquisition? Firm heterogeneity and entry barriers in the U.S. cement industry

I estimate a model of entry for the cement industry that considers two options of expansion: building a plant or acquiring an incumbent. The model takes into account that there is a transfer of the buyer firm‐level characteristics to the acquired plants, which affects profits from the acquisition. Estimates show that a less‐permissive Reagan–Bush administration's merger policy would decrease the number of acquired plants by 71%, greenfield entry would increase by 9.2% and consumer surplus would decrease by 23.5%. Results suggest that regulators should be concerned about policies that negatively affect the efficient reallocation of assets between incumbents and entrants.