Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain

Acheson, Graeme G. and Campbell, Gareth and Turner, John D and Vanteeva, Nadia (2015) Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain. Economic History Review, 68 (3). pp. 911-936. ISSN 0013-0117 (https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12086)

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Abstract

Using ownership and control data for 890 firm‐years, this article 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. However, this does not necessarily mean that there was a modern‐style separation of ownership from control in Victorian Britain. One major implication of our findings is that diffuse ownership was present in the UK much earlier than previously thought, and given that it occurred in an era with weak shareholder protection law, it somewhat 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.

ORCID iDs

Acheson, Graeme G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7531-2082, Campbell, Gareth, Turner, John D and Vanteeva, Nadia;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:70884
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    31 August 2015
    Published
    10 November 2014
    Published Online
    8 July 2014
    Accepted
    Notes:This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Corporate ownership and control in victorian Britain, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12086 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
    Subjects:Social Sciences > Economic History and Conditions
    Department:Strathclyde Business School > Accounting and Finance
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:13 Dec 2019 14:52
    Last modified:20 Nov 2024 02:24
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/70884
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