We examine the impact of merger announcements on protfolios of acquiring firm and target firm common stock from 1919 to 1930. despite vast changes in the economic and regulatory environment, overall acquisition profitability has remained remarkably constant over the last 70 and 80 years. Target...

Critics claim that theories of secured debt fail to explain the widespread use of collateral because they incorrectly predict when a loan will be secured. This paper provides the first rigorous statistical test of the transaction cost models of secured debt. Data from two samples of over 1,000...