Analysis Group Affiliates Alexander MacKay and Marc Remer Examine How Consumer Habits Could Shape Merger Effects
November 5, 2026
A new paper by Analysis Group academic affiliates Alexander MacKay and Marc Remer finds that most retail gasoline consumers exhibit inertia, sticking with the same brand out of habit, loyalty, or switching costs. In their article, Professors MacKay and Remer show that assessing the price effects of a merger can depend, in part, on this consumer inertia, as well as on other factors, including whether merging firms continue to market their pre-merger brands or instead unify their offerings under a single brand, after a deal. Standard, static models may ignore these factors, which could result in a biased read on how prices move following a merger.
“This work shows how consumer inertia in certain contexts can inform the tools we use for merger analysis.” – David Toniatti
The paper, “Mergers in Markets with Consumer Inertia,” has been accepted for publication by the RAND Journal of Economics.