Corporate Ownership and Control in Victorian Britain

Arbeitspapier

Using ownership and control data for 890 firm-years, this paper examines the concentration of capital and voting rights in British companies in the second half of the nineteenth century. We find that both capital and voting rights were diffuse by modern-day standards. This implies that ownership was separated from control in the UK much earlier than previously thought, and given that it occurred in an era with weak shareholder protection law, it undermines the influential law and finance hypothesis. We also find that diffuse ownership is correlated with large boards, a London head office, non-linear voting rights, and shares traded on multiple markets.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: QUCEH Working Paper Series ; No. 14-01

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill ; Business and Securities Law ; Economic History: Financial Markets and Institutions: Europe: 1913-
• Subject: Corporate ownership and control ; Law and finance hypothesis ; British financial history ; Shareholder protection law ; corporate ownership and control

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Acheson, Graeme ; Campbell, Gareth ; Turner, John D. ; Vanteeva, Nadia
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH)
• (where): Belfast
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/95939
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET