Do Wages Rise or Fall Following Merger?*

This paper provides a systematic empirical analysis of the effects of merger and acquisition activity on profitability and firm‐level employee remuneration in the UK, using a specially constructed database for the period 1979–91. It finds that both profitability and wages rise following acquisition, and firms that merge within the same industry division experience larger increases in profitability and pay their workers higher wages than those engaged in unrelated acquisitions; i.e. in part, the result of an increase in the efficiency with which labour is used following related acquisition.     

Do oil tariffs lower wages?

An oil tariff has potential to alter the pattern of production and income distribution across productive factors. This paper use a general equilibrium model of production and trade with inputs of capital, labor, and international energy to examine the effects of an oil tariff. Under a range of conditions, higher energy prices created by oil tariffs would lower the ratio of wages to capital rents, and production of labor intensive goods would fall. This paper concentrates on the potential of oil tariffs to alter patterns of production and income distribution.     

PENN SQUARE,PROBLEM LOANS,AND INSOLVENCY RISK

This paper investigates the influence of the failure of Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma City on stock prices within the banking industry. This influence is compared to the results of previous studies of the failures of Franklin National Bank of New York and United States National Bank of San Diego. While each of these earlier studies finds only a transitory impact on bank securities, this paper finds evidence of a structural change in the pricing mechanism for bank stocks after the Penn Square failure.