This paper was presented at the 47th Panel Meeting of Economic Policy in Ljubljana, April 2008. We thank the discussants Gianmarco Ottaviano and Morten Ravn, four referees as well as the panel members and other participants of the Ljubljana meeting for useful comments. We also thank Jean Imbs, Dennis Novy and Daria Taglioni for useful discussions. Moreover we thank A. Gasteuil and R. Pereira for research assistantship. The views expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the ECB.
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Cross-border mergers and acquisitions and European integration
Article first published online: 22 DEC 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0327.2009.00218.x
© CEPR, CES, MSH, 2009
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How to Cite
Coeurdacier, N., De Santis, R. A. and Aviat, A. (2009), Cross-border mergers and acquisitions and European integration. Economic Policy, 24: 55–106. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0327.2009.00218.x
The Managing Editor in charge of this paper was Jan van Ours.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 22 DEC 2008
- Article first published online: 22 DEC 2008
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SUMMARY
Cross-border M&A
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions activities (M&As) sharply increased over the last two decades, partly as a result of financial liberalization policies, government policies and regional agreements. In this paper, we identify some of the main forces driving M&As, using a unique database on bilateral cross-border M&As at the sectoral level (in manufacturing and services) over the period 1985–2004. The key empirical findings are: (1) EMU helped the restructuring of capital within the same sector of manufacturing activity among euro area firms; (2) joining the EU favoured both horizontal and vertical mergers; (3) policy-makers can help attract capital by reducing the corporate tax rates and the degree of product market regulations and by improving the country's financial systems; (4) the service industry has not yet fully benefited from European integration because the level of protection and barriers to entry in the services sector act as a strong deterrent to cross-border M&As in services.
— Nicolas Coeurdacier, Roberto A. De Santis and Antonin Aviat