novel word list of intangibles and apply it to takeover announcements. Deals presented with more “intangibles talk” complete … overoptimism. Overall, takeover announcements can provide important information regarding the quality of deals …

We find that stricter merger control legislation increases abnormal announcement returns of targets in bank mergers by … 7 percentage points. Analyzing potential explanations for this result, we document an increase in the pre-merger … other banks. Other merger properties, including the size and risk profile of targets, the geographic overlap of merging …

We quantify the impact of merger activity on productive efficiency. We develop and calibrate a dynamic industry … synergies, and indirectly through firms' incentives to enter or exit the industry. Merger activity increases average firm … productivity by 4.8%, of which 4.1% reflects the accumulation of synergies, and 0.7% the interaction between merger options and …

I study a protectionist anti-takeover law introduced in 2014 that covers a subset of all firms in the economy. The law … decreased affected firms' likelihood of becoming the target of a merger or acquisition and had a negative impact on shareholder … takeover market by increasing the pay-for-performance sensitivity …