We investigate the repercussions of credit market mistakes for a firm's borrowing and investment decisions. When credit ratings are relatively optimistic, we find evidence that firms take advantage of inaccuracies by issuing more debt, increasing leverage, rolling over more debt and lengthening...

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...

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...

We study how agglomeration forces influence the post-merger restructuring of the combined firm through the channel of the geographic overlap of acquirer and target establishments. We hypothesize and find that the geographic effect differs for horizontal and vertical mergers, and depends on the...

We identify important conflicts of interests among shareholders and examine their effects on corporate decisions. When a firm is considering an action that affects other firms in its shareholders' portfolios, shareholders with heterogeneous portfolios may disagree about whether to proceed. This...

We examine the rewards for experience and ability in the director labor market. We show that large acquisitions are associated with significantly higher numbers of subsequent board seats for the acquiring CEO, target CEO, and the directors. We also find that, in the case of acquisitions,...