I survey the empirical and theoretical literature on merger waves, beginning with the very early work on aggregate waves and moving on to the study of industry-level waves and finally cross-border activity. I argue that although there is no single explanation for merger activity or waves--and...

Theory predicts that in concentrated industries with high product similarity, horizontal acquisitions can effectively increase incumbent firms’ market power. Using a novel measure for industry product similarity, we show that in such industries firms’ propensity to make horizontal...

Cross-border merger activity is growing in importance. We map the global trade network each year from 1989 to 2016 and compare it to cross-border and domestic merger activity. Trade-weighted merger activity in trading partner countries has statistically and economically significant explanatory...

Internal slack is a primary contributor to agency problems. As such, shareholders' updated valuation of internal slack reveals their revised assessment of potential agency conflicts. We study how the value of internal cash changes following state antitakeover regulation events. After carefully...

We document the implications of an LBO for the target firm's peers in terms of follow-on acquisitions, alliances, investment, and governance changes. LBOs tend to lead overall merger activity, predicting both more LBOs and strategic acquisitions in the industry. LBOs predict significant changes...

Within the great oscillations of overall merger activity there is a shifting pattern of activity between strategic (operating firms) and financial (private equity) acquirers. What are the economic factors that drive either financial or strategic buyers to dominant positions in M&A activity? We...