of legal battles, the FTC eventually allowed the merger in 2009 under the conditions that Whole Foods sell off

the Wild Oats brand name and a number of individual stores, to preserve competition in certain local markets.

For more on the difficulties of defining markets, refer to Monopoly.

This new approach to antitrust regulation involves detailed analysis of specific markets and companies,
instead of defining a market and counting up total sales. A common starting point is for antitrust regulators to

use statistical tools and real-world evidence to estimate the demand curves and supply curves the firms

proposing a merger face. A second step is to specify how competition occurs in this specific industry. Some

possibilities include competing to cut prices, to raise output, to build a brand name through advertising, and to

build a reputation for good service or high quality. With these pieces of the puzzle in place, it is then possible to
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