GEP Research Paper 00/05

The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Company Employment in the United Kingdom

Martin Conyon, Sourafel Girma, Steve Thompson and Peter Wright

This paper was subsequently published in the European Economic Review, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp.31-49, 2002.

Abstract

This paper provides a systematic empirical analysis of the effects of take-over and merger activity on firm employment in the United Kingdom using a specially constructed database for the period 1967-1996. Our results indicate that significant rationalisations in the use of labour occur as firms reduce joint output and increase efficiency post-merger. These effects are particularly pronounced in the case of related and especially hostile mergers.

Issued in March 2000.

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