This paper provides a theory of strategic innovation project choice by incumbents and start-ups. We apply this theory … to identify the effects of prohibiting start-up acquisitions. We differentiate between killer acquisitions (when the … incumbent does not commercialize the acquired start-up's technology) and acquisitions with commercialization. A restrictive …

This paper provides a theory of strategic innovation project choice by incumbents and start-ups. We apply this theory … to identify the effects of prohibiting start-up acquisitions. We differentiate between killer acquisitions (when the … incumbent does not commercialize the acquired start-up's technology) and acquisitions with commercialization. A restrictive …

parameters, such a strategic distortion may result in an alignment or a misalignment of the direction in which innovation goes … relative to what is socially optimal. Moreover, prohibiting acquisitions may increase or decrease consumer surplus. The more …, the more likely is that consumers benefit (suffer) following an acquisition. These results are robust to acquisitions …

foundation for the analysis of acquisition policy. We show that prohibiting acquisitions has a weakly negative innovation effect …This paper provides a theory of strategic innovation project choice by incumbents and start-ups which serves as a … analyze the effects of less restrictive policies, including merger remedies and the tax treatment of acquisitions and initial …

, prohibiting acquisitions has a weakly negative overall innovation effect. We provide conditions determining the size of the effect …This paper provides a theory of strategic innovation project choice by incumbents and start-ups which serves as a …, including merger remedies and the tax treatment of acquisitions and initial public offerings. Such interventions tend to prevent …

prohibiting killer acquisitions strictly reduces the variety of innovation projects. By contrast, we find that prohibiting other … acquisitions only has a weakly negative innovation effect, and we provide conditions under which the effect is zero. Furthermore …, for both killer and other acquisitions, we identify market conditions under which the innovation effect is small, so that …

foundation for the analysis of acquisition policy. We show that prohibiting acquisitions has a weakly negative innovation effect …This paper provides a theory of strategic innovation project choice by incumbents and start-ups which serves as a … further analyze the effects of less restrictive policies, including merger remedies and the tax treatment of acquisitions and …

prohibiting killer acquisitions strictly reduces the variety of innovation projects. By contrast, we find that prohibiting other … acquisitions only has a weakly negative innovation effect, and we provide conditions under which the effect is zero. Furthermore …, for both killer and other acquisitions, we identify market conditions under which the innovation effect is small, so that …

and preempt future competition. We call such acquisitions "killer acquisitions." We develop a model illustrating this … competition or distant patent expiration. Conservative estimates indicate 5.3 percent to 7.4 percent of acquisitions in our sample …This paper argues incumbent firms may acquire innovative targets solely to discontinue the target's innovation projects …

Economists have long recognized that competition and innovation interact as key drivers of economic growth (Schumpeter … potentially affect innovation incentives, in particular in the field of M&A (Shapiro, 2012). Do acquisitions of innovative targets …: acquisitions of innovative targets push acquirer rivals to invest more in innovation, both internally through research and …