Online seminar – How do acquisitions affect the mental health of employees?

Ramin Baghai, Associate Professor of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics
Co-authored with Laurent Bach, Marieke Bos, and Rui Silva 

Using employer-employee level data linked to individual health records, we document that the incidence of stress, anxiety, depression, psychiatric medication usage, and even suicide increase following acquisitions. These effects are prevalent among employees from both targets and acquirers, in weak as well as in growing, profitable firms. Employees who experience negative career developments within the merging firms, ‘blue-collar’ workers, and employees with lower cognitive and non-cognitive skills are most affected. A variety of tests address endogeneity concerns, including an analysis exploiting failed mergers. Our findings point to mental illness as a significant non-pecuniary cost of acquisitions.

Speaker bio

Ramin Baghai is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and a Research Member at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Ramin received his PhD in Finance from the London Business School in 2011. His research focuses on corporate finance, especially topics related to the intersection of labour economics and finance, and credit markets. He has published in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, and other academic journals.

To join the seminar, register and join the Zoom meeting and enter the meeting ID.

Meeting ID: 868 6554 9117
Password: 437175

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