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The Rise and Fall of Bank Control in the United States: 1890-1939

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  • Simon, Miguel Cantillo

Abstract

This article studies how equity ownership and corporate control were separated in the United States. Initially, railroads and industrial firms were tightly controlled by a few shareholders; this situation was altered in the 1890s by massive mergers and reorganizations, which allowed private banks to control railroads and industrial firms. Between 1912 and 1939, bank control faded away as a result of a political reaction against financial institutions. Using stock-market data from 1914, the author shows that the eviction of banks from corporate boards depressed firm values by about 7 percent and that part of this value came from cartelization. Copyright 1998 by American Economic Association.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon, Miguel Cantillo, 1998. "The Rise and Fall of Bank Control in the United States: 1890-1939," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1077-1093, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:88:y:1998:i:5:p:1077-93
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    Cited by:

    1. Naomi R. Lamoreaux & Kenneth L. Sokoloff & Dhanoos Sutthiphisal, 2008. "The Reorganization of Inventive Activity in the United States during the Early Twentieth Century," NBER Chapters, in: Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth: Geography, Institutions, and the Knowledge Economy, pages 235-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    3. Santos, Joao A.C. & Rumble, Adrienne S., 2006. "The American keiretsu and universal banks: Investing, voting and sitting on nonfinancials' corporate boards," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 419-454, May.
    4. Eric Hilt, 2014. "History of American Corporate Governance: Law, Institutions, and Politics," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 1-21, December.
    5. Stefan ARPING, 2000. "Banking, Commerce, and Antitrust," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 00.22, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie, revised May 2002.
    6. Christine Pochet, 2002. "Institutional Complementarities within Corporate Governance Systems: A Comparative Study of Bankruptcy Rules," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(4), pages 343-381, December.
    7. Carola Frydman & Eric Hilt, 2014. "Investment Banks as Corporate Monitors in the Early 20th Century United States," NBER Working Papers 20544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Eric Hilt, 2014. "Corporate Governance and the Development of Manufacturing Enterprises in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts," NBER Chapters, in: Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective, pages 73-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Carney Richard, 2011. "The Domestic Political Origins of Global Financial Standards: The Agrarian Roots of American Securities Regulations," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 1-41, October.
    10. Carola Frydman & Eric Hilt & Lily Y. Zhou, 2015. "Economic Effects of Runs on Early "Shadow Banks": Trust Companies and the Impact of the Panic of 1907," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(4), pages 902-940.
    11. Mervyn K. Lewis, 2014. "Principles of Islamic corporate governance," Chapters, in: M. Kabir Hassan & Mervyn K. Lewis (ed.), Handbook on Islam and Economic Life, chapter 13, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Overfelt, Wouter Van & Annaert, Jan & Ceuster, Marc De & Deloof, Marc, 2009. "Do universal banks create value? Universal bank affiliation and company performance in Belgium, 1905-1909," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 253-265, April.
    13. Ueda, Kenichi, 2013. "Banks as coordinators of economic growth and stability: Microfoundation for macroeconomy with externality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(1), pages 322-352.
    14. Higgins, Huong N., 2013. "Conflicts of interest between banks and firms: Evidence from Japanese mergers," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 156-178.
    15. Marina Brogi & Valentina Lagasio, 2019. "Do bank boards matter? A literature review on the characteristics of banks' board of directors," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(3), pages 244-274.
    16. Huong N. Higgins, 2018. "Banks and Corporate Decisions: Evidence from Business Groups," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 679-713, September.
    17. Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 1998. "Debt as a (Credible) Collusive Device, or: "Everybody Happy but the Consumer"," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 243, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 01 Aug 2004.
    18. Josef Schroth, 2012. "Financial Crisis Resolution," Staff Working Papers 12-42, Bank of Canada.

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