Merger Synergies, Task Exposure, and Worker Careers

Malin Gardberg, Fredrik Heyman and Joacim Tåg

No 1457, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: We study the worker-level incidence of technology-related merger synergies by following incumbent target workers around acquisitions, whether or not they remain with the firm. Average acquisition wage effects are close to zero, but acquisitions redistribute gains and losses across task groups if the acquirer has a technological advantage. Workers in substitutable occupations experience a relative wage decline. Workers in complementary occupations gain. Acquired firms also receive more foreign managers, and IT spending rises. Thus, technology-related merger synergies can appear neutral for workers on average while changing the relative value of tasks within firms and having long-run spillovers on workers' careers.

Keywords: Careers; Human capital; Mergers and acquisitions; Technology-related synergies; Wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 J30 J31 O39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2023-04-05, Revised 2026-06-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-inv and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1457

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