The Effect of Mergers on Innovation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Das, Kaustav; Mayskaya, Tatiana; Nikandrova, Arina
• 署名单位: University of Leicester; HSE University (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20240062
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: research-and-development; strategic experimentation; development competition; GROWTH; MODEL

摘要

We study the effect of a merger on R&D activity in a dynamic model with uncertainty about the feasibility of innovation. The merger has three effects: It may reduce the number of follow-up innovations (cannibalization effect), increase the probability of the first game-changer innovation (appropriability effect), and bring this innovation forward in time (informational effect). The model suggests mergers are more desirable when R&D outcomes are highly uncertain, but less so when the innovation path is clearer. A surprising policy implication is that the benefit of the merger may be higher if the first and subsequent innovations are closer substitutes.