Mergers and acquisitions, technological change, and inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ma, Wenting; Ouimet, Paige; Simintzi, Elena
• 署名单位: University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; National Bureau of Economic Research; European Corporate Governance Institute; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2025.104136
• 发表日期: 2025-10
• 页码: 104136
• 关键词: M&As; Occupational change; wage inequality; technological change; company employment; ownership changes; PRODUCTIVITY; takeover; IMPACT; polarization; performance; dispersion; MARKET; wages

摘要

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important mechanism through which technology is adopted by firms. Firms with greater technological skill acquire less tech-savvy firms and, subsequently, increase technology investment at the target. This has important implications for labor reallocation following M&As. We show that target establishments become less routine intensive post-M&A, especially when a target had greater routine occupational employment, compared to its acquirer, ex-ante. We also provide evidence consistent with targets investing in information technology which tends to displace more office routine occupations. Such labor reallocation impacts wages, resulting in higher pay inequality within target establishments.