Dissecting the Listing Gap : Mergers, Private Equity, or Regulation?

The abnormal decline in the number of US public firms is often blamed on merger activity, private equity investments, and stock market regulations. We compare the effects of these channels in a unified framework. In the US, an extra 100 mergers is associated with 41.56 additional missing public firms, whereas an extra 100 PE deals is associated with 7.83 fewer missing public firms. Regulatory changes also substantially contributed to the decline of US listings. We also specify the types of deals that most strongly affect US listings. Finally, we document that similar listing gaps emerge in other developed economies