Cross-border mergers and acquisitions and the role of trade costs

Alexander Hijzen, Holger Görg and Miriam Manchin

European Economic Review, 2008, vol. 52, issue 5, 849-866

Abstract: Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have increased dramatically over the last two decades. This paper analyses the role of trade costs in explaining the increase in the number of cross-border M&As. In particular, we distinguish horizontal and non-horizontal M&As and investigate whether trade costs affect these two types of mergers differently. We analyse this question using industry data for 23 OECD countries for the period 1990-2001. Our findings suggest that while in the aggregate trade costs affect cross-border merger activity negatively its impact differs importantly across horizontal and non-horizontal mergers. The impact of trade costs is less negative for horizontal mergers, which is consistent with the tariff-jumping argument.

Date: 2008
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Working Paper: Cross-border mergers and acquisitions and the role of trade costs (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:52:y:2008:i:5:p:849-866

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