Does It Matter Who Your Buyer Is? The Role of Nonprofit Mission in the Market for Corporate Control of Hospitals
研究通过分析医院并购价格差异，发现非营利与营利医院在收购时出价不同，非营利医院收购同类非营利医院时支付更低价格，表明非营利使命影响其市场行为。
The hospital industry is one of this country’s largest mixed industries, with for‐profit, nonprofit, and government hospitals operating in the same local markets. But how do ownership types differ? Previous studies have compared costs among different hospitals. However, these studies have not been entirely successful because costs cannot be meaningfully compared without controlling for hard‐to‐measure quality of service. In this study, we look to the market for corporate control—or takeovers—for evidence of ownership‐related differences. We find that nonprofit and for‐profit firms pay different prices and that these differences relate to the nonprofit’s mission. Specifically, nonprofits and for‐profits pay the same price when buying for‐profits, but nonprofits pay less when buying a “like‐minded” nonprofit (so religious nonprofits pay less for other religious nonprofits, for example). The resulting dual‐price equilibrium suggests that nonprofits have a different objective than do for‐profits but also that nonprofits behave competitively and efficiently when interacting with for‐profits.