{"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","dataset":"research-agenda","count":2,"updatedThrough":"2026-07-21","summary":{"decreasedCount":2,"domainCount":1,"entityCount":1,"increasedCount":0,"latestSourceAccessDate":"2026-07-18","methodCount":2,"questionCount":2,"requestCount":8,"sourceCount":1,"unchangedCount":0},"universeSummary":{"decreasedCount":26,"domainCount":5,"entityCount":32,"increasedCount":19,"latestSourceAccessDate":"2026-07-21","methodCount":7,"questionCount":46,"requestCount":184,"sourceCount":12,"unchangedCount":1},"guardrail":"Agenda questions are derived from published latest-to-prior competition signals and remain attached to their exact metric, periods, universe, and source custody. They are not ranked, scored, or treated as findings of causality, competitive harm, liability, enforcement merit, or research importance. Evidence requests describe work to collect, not evidence already established.","filters":{"direction":"all","directionMatched":true,"domain":"mergers","domainMatched":true,"method":"all","methodMatched":true,"query":"","question":null,"questionMatched":true,"view":"question","viewMatched":true,"scope":"slice","scopeMatched":true},"activeQuestionId":"hsr-second-request-rate","methods":[{"id":"market-mechanism","label":"Market mechanism","shortLabel":"Mechanism","detail":"Test entry, exit, switching, price, quality, capacity, and share pathways inside the declared market boundary.","metricIds":["market-hhi"],"color":"#12a8b5"},{"id":"share-accounting","label":"Share accounting","shortLabel":"Shares","detail":"Reconstruct participant-share movement while checking denominator, coverage, entry, exit, and transaction changes.","metricIds":["market-cr4","market-leader-share"],"color":"#1769e0"},{"id":"industry-disaggregation","label":"Industry disaggregation","shortLabel":"Industries","detail":"Trace a sector median back to strict six-digit Census rows before proposing a product or geographic market study.","metricIds":["industry-median-hhi"],"color":"#24a76f"},{"id":"geographic-structure","label":"Geographic structure","shortLabel":"Geography","detail":"Reconcile national and nested geographic concentration summaries with area-level distributions, provider or ownership paths, measurement boundaries, and local-market evidence.","metricIds":["state-bank-median-hhi","national-bank-deposit-hhi","fixed-broadband-hhi"],"color":"#0f766e"},{"id":"business-flow-context","label":"Business-flow context","shortLabel":"Business flows","detail":"Disaggregate national entry, exit, job-flow, and reallocation movement by sector, place, and firm age before proposing a competitive mechanism.","metricIds":["establishment-entry-rate","establishment-exit-rate","job-creation-rate","job-destruction-rate","net-job-creation-rate","reallocation-rate"],"color":"#6b5bd6"},{"id":"merger-program-context","label":"Merger program context","shortLabel":"Filings","detail":"Place HSR notification volume beside filing mix, transaction size, thresholds, exemptions, and macroeconomic context.","metricIds":["hsr-transactions"],"color":"#f39b22"},{"id":"review-process-context","label":"Review process context","shortLabel":"Review","detail":"Test whether transaction mix, clearance, adjusted denominators, or agency practice moved alongside the review rate.","metricIds":["hsr-second-request-rate"],"color":"#eb4a64"}],"rows":[{"id":"hsr-second-request-rate","ordinal":45,"question":"How did transaction mix, clearance, adjusted denominators, and agency review practice change alongside the observed rate?","methodId":"review-process-context","methodLabel":"Review process context","methodDetail":"Test whether transaction mix, clearance, adjusted denominators, or agency practice moved alongside the review rate.","evidenceRequests":["Adjusted transaction denominators, clearance counts, and agency allocation for both fiscal years.","Transaction-size and industry mix for matters entering the review pipeline.","Review-practice, process-rule, staffing, and reporting changes across the interval.","Second Requests, complaints, settlements, abandonments, and other outcomes kept as separate measures."],"domain":"mergers","domainLabel":"Federal merger activity","entityId":"hsr-program","entityCode":"hsr-program","entityLabel":"Hart-Scott-Rodino program","metricId":"hsr-second-request-rate","metricLabel":"Second Request rate","unit":"percentage_points","priorPeriod":"FY2024","priorYear":2024,"priorValue":3,"latestPeriod":"FY2025","latestYear":2025,"latestValue":2.1,"yearsBetween":1,"delta":-0.9,"deltaPercent":-30,"direction":"decreased","observation":"Second Request rate moved from 3.0% in FY2024 to 2.1% in FY2025 (-0.90 percentage points).","interpretation":"The latest reported review rate is lower than the prior fiscal year. This is a program-activity comparison, not a finding about merger harm or enforcement effectiveness.","comparisonNote":"Latest reported federal fiscal year versus the immediately preceding fiscal year in the same HSR annual report series.","evidenceCount":10,"evidenceLabel":"10 annual records / FY2016-FY2025","confidenceLevel":"high","dataStatus":"verified","sourceCount":1,"sourceIds":["ftc-doj-hsr-report-2025"],"publishers":["Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice"],"latestSourceAccessDate":"2026-07-18","agendaHref":"/research/agenda?question=hsr-second-request-rate#research-agenda-observatory","atlasHref":"/atlas?focus=question%3Ahsr-second-request-rate&layer=research","researchProfileHref":"/research/agenda/hsr-second-request-rate","monitorHref":"/economy/monitor?signal=hsr-second-request-rate#competition-monitor-console","notebookHref":"/notebooks?recipe=merger-review","briefingHref":"/research/briefing?signals=hsr-second-request-rate&audience=research#competition-briefing-studio","profileHref":"/mergers","explorerHref":"/mergers?metric=second_request_rate&year=2025","signalGuardrail":"Second Requests and public enforcement actions are different stages with different timing rules. Their counts must not be treated as a finding that every reviewed or reported transaction was anticompetitive.","agendaGuardrail":"Agenda questions are derived from published latest-to-prior competition signals and remain attached to their exact metric, periods, universe, and source custody. They are not ranked, scored, or treated as findings of causality, competitive harm, liability, enforcement merit, or research importance. Evidence requests describe work to collect, not evidence already established."},{"id":"hsr-transactions","ordinal":46,"question":"How did filing mix, transaction size, thresholds, exemptions, and macroeconomic conditions change alongside notification volume?","methodId":"merger-program-context","methodLabel":"Merger program context","methodDetail":"Place HSR notification volume beside filing mix, transaction size, thresholds, exemptions, and macroeconomic context.","evidenceRequests":["Transaction-size distribution and filing composition for both fiscal years.","Threshold, exemption, reporting-rule, and early-termination changes across the interval.","Transaction outcome and industry-mix records that can separate volume from composition.","Macroeconomic and financing context reported alongside, without treating co-movement as causation."],"domain":"mergers","domainLabel":"Federal merger activity","entityId":"hsr-program","entityCode":"hsr-program","entityLabel":"Hart-Scott-Rodino program","metricId":"hsr-transactions","metricLabel":"Reported HSR transactions","unit":"count","priorPeriod":"FY2024","priorYear":2024,"priorValue":2031,"latestPeriod":"FY2025","latestYear":2025,"latestValue":2006,"yearsBetween":1,"delta":-25,"deltaPercent":-1.2,"direction":"decreased","observation":"Reported HSR transactions moved from 2,031 in FY2024 to 2,006 in FY2025 (-25 transactions).","interpretation":"The latest reported transaction volume is lower than the prior fiscal year. This is a program-activity comparison, not a finding about merger harm or enforcement effectiveness.","comparisonNote":"Latest reported federal fiscal year versus the immediately preceding fiscal year in the same HSR annual report series.","evidenceCount":10,"evidenceLabel":"10 annual records / FY2016-FY2025","confidenceLevel":"high","dataStatus":"verified","sourceCount":1,"sourceIds":["ftc-doj-hsr-report-2025"],"publishers":["Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice"],"latestSourceAccessDate":"2026-07-18","agendaHref":"/research/agenda?question=hsr-transactions#research-agenda-observatory","atlasHref":"/atlas?focus=question%3Ahsr-transactions&layer=research","researchProfileHref":"/research/agenda/hsr-transactions","monitorHref":"/economy/monitor?signal=hsr-transactions#competition-monitor-console","notebookHref":"/notebooks?recipe=merger-review","briefingHref":"/research/briefing?signals=hsr-transactions&audience=research#competition-briefing-studio","profileHref":"/mergers","explorerHref":"/mergers?metric=transactions&year=2025","signalGuardrail":"HSR transactions are notifications reported under the federal premerger program, not a census of every U.S. merger. A reported transaction can involve multiple filings, and the adjusted denominator removes matters for which the agencies could not issue a Second Request.","agendaGuardrail":"Agenda questions are derived from published latest-to-prior competition signals and remain attached to their exact metric, periods, universe, and source custody. They are not ranked, scored, or treated as findings of causality, competitive harm, liability, enforcement merit, or research importance. Evidence requests describe work to collect, not evidence already established."}]}