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Culture and the ownership concentration of public corporations around the world

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  • Holderness, Clifford G.

Abstract

As a country's attitude toward egalitarianism increases, which means a societal preference for the equal as opposed to hierarchical treatment of individuals, the ownership of the public corporations in the country becomes more concentrated. This finding is robust to a wide range of specifications and methodologies. Once egalitarianism is accounted for, there is no evidence that other cultural attitudes, including trust and religion, or legal protections for public market investors, including those laws that figure prominently in the literature, are related to ownership concentration. One explanation for the robust association between egalitarianism and ownership concentration is that large shareholders are valuable when employees have strong legal rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Holderness, Clifford G., 2017. "Culture and the ownership concentration of public corporations around the world," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 469-486.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:44:y:2017:i:c:p:469-486
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.07.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ownership concentration; Culture; Egalitarianism; Religion; Trust; Armen Alchian;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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