IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mhr/jinste/urnsici0932-4569(201203)1681_181tmoama_2.0.tx_2-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Measure of a MAC: A Machine-Learning Protocol for Analyzing Force Majeure Clauses in M&A Agreements

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Talley
  • Drew O'Kane

Abstract

This paper develops a protocol for using a familiar data set on force majeure provisions in corporate acquisitions agreements to tokenize and calibrate a machine-learning algorithm of textual analysis. Our protocol, built on regular expression (RE) and latent semantic analysis (LSA) approaches, serves to replicate, correct, and extend the hand-coded data. Our preliminary results indicate that both approaches perform well, though a hybridized approach improves predictive power further. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that our results are generally robust to out-of-sample predictions. We conclude that similar approaches could be used more broadly in empirical legal scholarship, especially including in business law.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Talley & Drew O'Kane, 2012. "The Measure of a MAC: A Machine-Learning Protocol for Analyzing Force Majeure Clauses in M&A Agreements," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 168(1), pages 181-201, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(201203)168:1_181:tmoama_2.0.tx_2-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/article/the-measure-of-a-mac-a-machine-learning-protocol-for-analyzing-force-majeure-clauses-in-ma-agreements-101628093245612799440177
    Download Restriction: Fulltext access is included for subscribers to the printed version.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald J. Gilson & Alan Schwartz, 2005. "Understanding MACs: Moral Hazard in Acquisitions," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 330-358, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarath Sanga, 2014. "Choice of Law: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 894-928, December.
    2. Christoph Engel, 2018. "Empirical Methods for the Law," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 174(1), pages 5-23, March.
    3. James P. Ryans, 2021. "Textual classification of SEC comment letters," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 37-80, March.
    4. Marian Moszoro & Pablo T. Spiller & Sebastian Stolorz, 2016. "Rigidity of Public Contracts," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 396-427, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lau, Stephanie, 2011. "Investment incentives in bilateral trading," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 538-552.
    2. Nils Patschureck & Friedrich Sommer & Arnt Wöhrmann, 2015. "Contract design as a risk management tool in corporate acquisitions: theoretical foundations and empirical evidence," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 279-316, October.
    3. Barry E. Adler, 2012. "Game-Theoretic Bankruptcy Valuation," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 209-238.
    4. Macias, Antonio J. & Moeller, Thomas, 2016. "Target signaling with material adverse change clauses in merger agreements," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 69-92.
    5. Michael Kinsella, 2017. "Hostile Takeovers—An Analysis Through Just War Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 771-786, December.
    6. David J. Denis & Antonio J. Macias, 2010. "Material Adverse Change Clauses and Acquisition Dynamics," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1242, Purdue University, Department of Economics.
    7. S. Rosenkranz & U. Weitzel, 2005. "Bargaining in Mergers: The Role of Outside Options and Termination Provisions," Working Papers 05-32, Utrecht School of Economics.
    8. Mei Cheng & Jacob Jaggi & Spencer Young, 2022. "Customer concentration of targets in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1314-1355, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • C88 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Other Computer Software
    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(201203)168:1_181:tmoama_2.0.tx_2-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Wolpert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/jite .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.