Conglomerate Mergers as Defense Against the Risk of Relative Price Variability
运用投资组合理论，研究相对价格变动风险如何影响企业最优现金流结构，发现风险越大企业越倾向于多元化并购，且通胀率能更好解释联合大企业并购，表明相对价格风险可能是通胀的另一真实资源成本。
This paper studies the effects of the risk of relative price variability on the optimal structure of a firm's cash flows with an application of portfolio theory. It is suggested that, when relative price risk is greater, it is optimal for the management to diversify, at the margin, and emphasize economies of scale or scope when the risk is smaller. Conglomerate mergers should therefore be positively associated with relative price risk, given the variables affecting mergers as a whole. Empirical evidence is found to lend support to the theory. The inflation rate explains conglomerate mergers even better, which suggests that relative price risk may constitute another real resource cost of inflation. © 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology