Are there waves in merger activity after all?

Dennis Gärtner () and Daniel Halbheer

International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2009, vol. 27, issue 6, 708-718

Abstract: This paper investigates the merger wave hypothesis for the US and the UK employing a Markov regime-switching model. Using quarterly data covering the last 30Â years, for the US, we identify the beginning of a merger wave in the mid 1990s but not the much-discussed 1980s merger wave. We argue that the latter finding can be ascribed to the refined methods of inference offered by the Gibbs sampling approach. As opposed to the US, mergers in the UK exhibit multiple waves, with activity surging in the early 1970s and the late 1980s.

Keywords: Merger; waves; Markov; regime-switching; regression; model; Gibbs; sampling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Are There Waves in Merger Activity After All? (2008)
Working Paper: Are There Waves in Merger Activity After All? (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:indorg:v:27:y:2009:i:6:p:708-718

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