This paper describes and considers explanations for changes in corporate governance and merger activity in the United … States since 1980. Corporate governance in the 1980s was dominated by intense merger activity distinguished by the prevalence … of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and hostility. After a brief decline in the early 1990s, substantial merger activity resumed …

change: internally precipitated management turnover, hostile takeover, and friendly takeover. We find that firms experiencing … is also weaker evidence that hostile takeover targets underperform their industry peers. We interpret this evidence as … relative to industry, but that an external challenge in the form of a hostile takeover is often required when the whole …

relatively low in value added per employee at the time of takeover and before, a characteristic we take to indicate relatively …-term recoveries after takeover from the misfortunes of the takeover year and a return to higher growth rates of employment and output … year or two after takeover but seem to have increased their profitability or efficiency relative to their industries. The …

.9%, as hypothesized by monopsony theory. Based on a simple merger simulation, we find that a merger between the top two …