9320675 Stearns This is a project designed to help us understand when and why upsurges in corporate mergers take place in the American economy. Goverment documents, the business press, and other sources of data will be used to test an explanation drawn from resource mobilization theory in order to explain these merger movement upsurges. All four of the peaks of corporate merger activity in the last century (circa 1897, 1929, 1968, and 1985) will be examined in light of this theory. Up until now the periodic upsurges of corporate merger activity in the United States have been seen as akin to earthquakes or hurricanes--unpredictable and mysterious events that wreak havoc on a wide scale. Case studies of individual mergers abound, but these contribute little to an understanding of why mergers are common in some periods and rare in others. To the extent that this project is successful, it will make upsurges in corporate mergers less mysterious and more interpretable. Those who feel that at their peaks such merger movements generate substantial waste and disruption should find that this project provides information that can be used to moderate these problems. ***
