This book covers the consolidation and merger of corporations and corporate divestiture in the United States.

Do mergers lead to financial instability? How are shareholders' interests best served? How significant a role do taxes play? What are the implications for the structure and concentration of industry? Mergers and Acquisitions, prepared in an nontechnical format, answers these and other questions that have arisen from the takeover boom that began in the mid-1980s. "A significant piece of scholarship."—Peter Fuhrman, Forbes "Accessible to interested laypersons and policy makers. . . . [A] thoroughly readable and informative book."—Gregg A. Jarrell, Journal of Economic Literature

Mergers And Efficiency: Changes Across Time focuses on one aspect of the corporate finance revolution that restructured Corporate America and led to the longest expansion in U.S. history - changes in rates of merger efficiency. Demystifying this most controversial and dynamic period of U.S. economic history is key to understanding the business, financial and economic innovations that defined the last two decades of the 20th century. In addition, it is important to create a careful empirical understanding of the conditions under which merger activity increased or decreased firm efficiency, industrial productivity, and overall improvements in aggregate output and economic performance.

This set includes articles from the four main fields which have influenced the study of Mergers and Acquisitions: Economics, Finance, Strategic Management and Human Resource Management. Featuring the key papers by individuals who shaped the field, the collection presents these formative pieces in thematically grouped sections, including coverage of: * Perspectives on the modern business corporation and the role of mergers and acquisitions: historical, financial, strategic and management * Causes of mergers and acquisitions activity * Performance impact of mergers and acquisitions activity * Public policy and the corporation The set features a comprehensive index and original introductory material.

This set includes articles from the four main fields which have influenced the study of Mergers and Acquisitions: Economics, Finance, Strategic Management and Human Resource Management. Featuring the key papers by individuals who shaped the field, the collection presents these formative pieces in thematically grouped sections, including coverage of: * Perspectives on the modern business corporation and the role of mergers and acquisitions: historical, financial, strategic and management * Causes of mergers and acquisitions activity * Performance impact of mergers and acquisitions activity * Public policy and the corporation The set features a comprehensive index and original introductory material.

This volume examines critical issues in the debate over the effects' of the current wave of corporate takeovers. Media accounts are often sensational, but proposed public policy remedies need to be evaluated on the basis of more than simple rhetoric. The studies contained in this collection provide solid economic grounding for the debate. Public Policy Toward Corporate Takeovers is the result of extensive research sponsored by the Center for the Study of American Business and directed by Murray Weidenbaum; it examines key aspects of takeovers: the evolving regulatory role of the Antitrust Division, state versus federal authority over offensive and defensive takeover maneuvers, whether leveraged buyouts improve the firm's economic performance, and the validity of assertions about "entrenched" managements. The book also includes the views of the most publicized corporate raider, T. Boone Pickens. Balancing Pickens' highly favorable view of the value of hostile takeovers as a disciplining factor for subpar management performance is a chapter by David Ravenscraft of the Federal Trade Commission, who takes a long-term viewpoint and argues that the popular belief that takeovers create substantial efficiencies has not been borne out by the record. The overall findings do not fully support either side of the takeover controversy. The book presents both legal and economic perspectives, and suggests strategies for government policymakers as well as leaders of private enterprise.