Dimensions of the Worldwide Merger Boom

Abstract

Drawing from a commercial database seldom used by economists, this note provides aggregate statistics for four dimensions of the worldwide explosion of industrial mergers: the overall volume, the median and average size of mergers, sectoral composition of mergers, and the countries where these mergers are occurring. The final section focuses on three important implications of this merger activity, the changing size of enterprises; the degree to which such mergers are occurring in the same four-digit industries; and the probability that these merger activities will bring about a permanent change in the market structure.

Keywords: mergers, industrial organization

JEL Classification: L11, L12, L2, L0