We study the effect of property rights institutions in host countries, the institutions protecting investors from expropriation by host country agents, on the geographic structure and valuation of U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs). We provide firm-level evidence that better property rights...

We investigate the role of intellectual property rights protection in cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. We document a significant increase in inbound cross-border M&As after a country implements reforms that strengthen local intellectual property rights. Importantly, we find...

We show that a larger migrant stock from an acquiring country to a target country leads to greater deal frequency and dollar value in cross-border acquisitions after controlling for the differences in economic and financial development, regulatory environments, valuations, and cultural distance....