Merger Movements In American Industry

Between 1895 and 1904 a great wave of mergers swept through the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy. In The Great Merger Movement in American Business, Lamoreaux explores the causes of the mergers, concluding that there was nothing natural or inevitable about turn-of-the-century combinations.

Discusses the appropriateness of mergers such as acquisitions of Conoco and Marathon Oil Corporation and of their impact on the American economy. The author argues in favour of a natural government merger policy. He believes that mergers do not result in an excessive concentration of the American economy, that the present restrictive policy is at odds with that of the countries with which the U.S. competes, that mergers may allow American companies to become large enough to compete effectively in international trade and improve the management of poorly managed assets.