IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v45y2018icp94-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Centralization of capital and financial crisis: A global network analysis of corporate control

Author

Listed:
  • Brancaccio, Emiliano
  • Giammetti, Raffaele
  • Lopreite, Milena
  • Puliga, Michelangelo

Abstract

Neither the existence of a global tendency toward the centralization of capital as theorized by Marx nor the possible links between economic crisis and capital centralization have been verified by empirical studies. Using techniques of complex network analysis applied to the Thomson Reuters Eikon database we introduce a definition of centralization as network control and present a first study of its global evolution from 2001 to 2016. We find that the global network control is highly centralized: the fraction of the top holders cumulatively holding the 80% of the global economic value of the companies examined does never exceed 2%. Furthermore, by inspecting the temporal dynamics of the phenomenon we observe a relevant increase in the centralization of capital: this trend assumes a more regular and general character since the financial crisis started in 2007, with a growth of more than 20%.

Suggested Citation

  • Brancaccio, Emiliano & Giammetti, Raffaele & Lopreite, Milena & Puliga, Michelangelo, 2018. "Centralization of capital and financial crisis: A global network analysis of corporate control," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 94-104.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:45:y:2018:i:c:p:94-104
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2018.03.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X18300122
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2018.03.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Lorenzo Burlon, 2015. "Ownership networks and aggregate volatility," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1004, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Carlos Pombo & Luis H. Gutiérrez, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Firm Valuation in Colombia," Research Department Publications 4470, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    3. Eugenio Caverzasi, 2014. "Minsky and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis: The Financial Instability Hypothesis in the Era of Financialization," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_796, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. Sheri M. Markose, 2005. "Computability and Evolutionary Complexity: Markets as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 159-192, June.
    5. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    6. Jan Toporowski, 2005. "Theories of Financial Disturbance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3179.
    7. Delli Gatti, Domenico & Gallegati, Mauro & Greenwald, Bruce & Russo, Alberto & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2010. "The financial accelerator in an evolving credit network," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1627-1650, September.
    8. Luigi Zingales, 1995. "What Determines the Value of Corporate Votes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1047-1073.
    9. Vasco Carvalho & Xavier Gabaix, 2013. "The Great Diversification and Its Undoing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1697-1727, August.
    10. Matthew Elliott & Benjamin Golub & Matthew O. Jackson, 2014. "Financial Networks and Contagion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3115-3153, October.
    11. Emiliano Brancaccio & Giuseppe Fontana, 2013. "'Solvency rule' versus 'Taylor rule': an alternative interpretation of the relation between monetary policy and the economic crisis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(1), pages 17-33.
    12. Mr. Andre O Santos, 2015. "Integrated Ownership and Control in the GCC Corporate Sector," IMF Working Papers 2015/184, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Raffaele Corrado & Maurizio Zollo, 2006. "Small worlds evolving: governance reforms, privatizations, and ownership networks in Italy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(2), pages 319-352, April.
    14. Stefania Vitali & James B Glattfelder & Stefano Battiston, 2011. "The Network of Global Corporate Control," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-6, October.
    15. Zingales, Luigi, 1994. "The Value of the Voting Right: A Study of the Milan Stock Exchange Experience," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 125-148.
    16. Garlaschelli, Diego & Battiston, Stefano & Castri, Maurizio & Servedio, Vito D.P. & Caldarelli, Guido, 2005. "The scale-free topology of market investments," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 350(2), pages 491-499.
    17. Chapelle, Ariane & Szafarz, Ariane, 2005. "Controlling firms through the majority voting rule," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 355(2), pages 509-529.
    18. Ariane Chapelle, 2004. "Separation between ownership and control: where do we stand?," Working Papers CEB 04-018.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    20. Gutierrez, Luis H. & Pombo, Carlos & Taborda, Rodrigo, 2008. "Ownership and control in Colombian corporations," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 22-47, February.
    21. Pecora, Nicolò & Spelta, Alessandro, 2015. "Shareholding relationships in the Euro Area banking market: A network perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 434(C), pages 1-12.
    22. Roberto Scazzieri, 2009. "Structural Economic Dynamics: Looking Back and Forging Ahead," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 531-558.
    23. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2004. "Financialisation and the slowdown of accumulation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(5), pages 719-741, September.
    24. Riccetti, Luca & Russo, Alberto & Gallegati, Mauro, 2013. "Leveraged network-based financial accelerator," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1626-1640.
    25. Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Complex Ownership Structures and Corporate Valuations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 579-604, April.
    26. Denis, Diane K. & McConnell, John J., 2003. "International Corporate Governance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 1-36, March.
    27. Eelke M. Heemskerk & Frank W. Takes, 2016. "The Corporate Elite Community Structure of Global Capitalism," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 90-118, February.
    28. Carlos Pombo & Luis H. Gutiérrez, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Firm Valuation in Colombia," Research Department Publications 4470, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    29. Giulia Rotundo & Anna D’Arcangelis, 2010. "Ownership and control in shareholding networks," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 5(2), pages 191-219, December.
    30. Aleksandr Buzgalin & Andrey Kolganov, 2016. "Critical political economy: the ‘market-centric’ model of economic theory must remain in the past—notes of the Post-Soviet School of Critical Marxism," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(2), pages 575-598.
    31. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    32. John E. Elliott, 1980. "Marx and Schumpeter on Capitalism's Creative Destruction: A Comparative Restatement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(1), pages 45-68.
    33. John Foster, 2005. "From simplistic to complex systems in economics," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(6), pages 873-892, November.
    34. Brioschi, Francesco & Buzzacchi, Luigi & Colombo, Massimo G., 1989. "Risk capital financing and the separation of ownership and control in business groups," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4-5), pages 747-772, September.
    35. Domenico Delli Gatti & Mauro Gallegati & Bruce Greenwald & Alberto Russo & Joseph Stiglitz, 2009. "Business fluctuations and bankruptcy avalanches in an evolving network economy," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 4(2), pages 195-212, November.
    36. Leonardo Bargigli & Luca Riccetti & Alberto Russo & Mauro Gallegati, 2020. "Network calibration and metamodeling of a financial accelerator agent based model," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 15(2), pages 413-440, April.
    37. J. B. Glattfelder & S. Battiston, 2009. "Backbone of complex networks of corporations: The flow of control," Papers 0902.0878, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2009.
    38. Gary A. Dymski, 2010. "Why the subprime crisis is different: a Minskyian approach," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 34(2), pages 239-255, March.
    39. Riccardo Bellofiore, 2014. "The Great Recession and the contradictions of contemporary capitalism," Chapters, in: Riccardo Bellofiore & Giovanna Vertova (ed.), The Great Recession and the Contradictions of Contemporary Capitalism, chapter 1, pages 7-25, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    40. Caldarelli, Guido, 2007. "Scale-Free Networks: Complex Webs in Nature and Technology," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199211517.
    41. Anwar Shaikh, 1992. "The Falling Rate of Profit as the Cause of Long Waves: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Alfred Kleinknecht & Ernest Mandel & Immanuel Wallerstein (ed.), New Findings in Long-Wave Research, chapter 7, pages 174-202, Palgrave Macmillan.
    42. Compston, Hugh, 2013. "The network of global corporate control: implications for public policy," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 357-379, October.
    43. Emiliano Brancaccio & Giuseppe Fontana, 2016. "‘Solvency rule’ and capital centralisation in a monetary union," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(4), pages 1055-1075.
    44. P. de Grauwe & F. Camerman, 2002. "How Big are the Big Multinational Companies?," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(3), pages 311-326.
    45. Flath, David, 1992. "Indirect shareholding within Japan's business groups," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 223-227, February.
    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. Brancaccio, Emiliano & Giammetti, Raffaele & Lopreite, Milena & Puliga, Michelangelo, 2019. "Monetary policy, crisis and capital centralization in corporate ownership and control networks: A B-Var analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 55-66.
    2. Takayuki Mizuno & Shohei Doi & Shuhei Kurizaki, 2020. "The power of corporate control in the global ownership network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Nikolaos Th. Chatzarakis, 2021. "Revisiting the role and consequences of Econophysics from a Marxian perspective," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 15(1), pages 45-68, June.
    4. Roman Matkovskyy, 2020. "A measurement of affluence and poverty interdependence across countries: Evidence from the application of tail copula," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(4), pages 404-416, October.
    5. Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld & António Ferreira, 2021. "Urban Planning and European Innovation Policy: Achieving Sustainability, Social Inclusion, and Economic Growth?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-35, January.
    6. Takayuki Mizuno & Shohei Doi & Takahiro Tsuchiya & Shuhei Kurizaki, 2021. "Socially responsible investing through the equity funds in the global ownership network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Emiliano Brancaccio & Raffaele Giammetti & Milena Lopreite & Michelangelo Puliga, 2023. "Convergence in solvency and capital centralization: A B‐VAR analysis for high‐income and euro area countries," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 40-73, February.
    8. Piotr Łasak & Sławomir Wyciślak, 2022. "Dynamics in Complex Systems Amidst Crisis 2008+: Financial Regulatory and Supervisory Reflections," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    9. Emiliano Brancaccio & Domenico Suppa, 2018. "The “Solvency Rule†of the Central Banker in a Monetary Scheme of Reproduction," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 12(1-2), pages 77-98, June.
    10. Albina Gibadullina, 2024. "Who owns and controls global capital? Uneven geographies of asset manager capitalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 558-585, March.
    11. Emiliano Brancaccio, 2019. "Sulle condizioni per una rivoluzione della teoria e della politica economica (On the conditions for a revolution of economic theory and policy)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 72(287), pages 197-206.
    12. Emiliano Brancaccio, 2023. "Centralizzazione del capitale, guerra e pace (Centralization of capital, war and peace)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 76(304), pages 339-356.

    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. Brancaccio, Emiliano & Giammetti, Raffaele & Lopreite, Milena & Puliga, Michelangelo, 2019. "Monetary policy, crisis and capital centralization in corporate ownership and control networks: A B-Var analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 55-66.
    2. Abreu, Mariana Piaia & Grassi, Rosanna & Del-Vecchio, Renata R., 2019. "Structure of control in financial networks: An application to the Brazilian stock market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 522(C), pages 302-314.
    3. Takayuki Mizuno & Shohei Doi & Shuhei Kurizaki, 2020. "The power of corporate control in the global ownership network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Pecora, Nicolò & Spelta, Alessandro, 2015. "Shareholding relationships in the Euro Area banking market: A network perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 434(C), pages 1-12.
    5. repec:ctc:serie1:def14 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Nicolò Pecora & Alessandro Spelta, 2014. "Shareholding Network in the Euro Area Banking Market," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def014, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    7. Emiliano Brancaccio & Raffaele Giammetti & Milena Lopreite & Michelangelo Puliga, 2023. "Convergence in solvency and capital centralization: A B‐VAR analysis for high‐income and euro area countries," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 40-73, February.
    8. Gur Aminadav & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Corporate Control around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1191-1246, June.
    9. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5922 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bernard Yeung & Randall Morck & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2004. "Corporate Governance, Economic Entrenchment and Growth," Working Papers 04-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    11. Hossein Dastkhan & Naser Shams Gharneh, 2016. "Determination of Systemically Important Companies with Cross-Shareholding Network Analysis: A Case Study from an Emerging Market," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Chapelle, Ariane & Szafarz, Ariane, 2005. "Controlling firms through the majority voting rule," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 355(2), pages 509-529.
    13. Mr. Andre O Santos, 2015. "Integrated Ownership and Control in the GCC Corporate Sector," IMF Working Papers 2015/184, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Grosfeld, Irena, 2009. "Large shareholders and firm value: Are high-tech firms different?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 259-277, September.
    15. Edwards, Jeremy S.S. & Weichenrieder, Alfons J., 2009. "Control rights, pyramids, and the measurement of ownership concentration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 489-508, October.
    16. Levine, Ross, 2005. "Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 865-934, Elsevier.
    17. Chaiyasit Anuchitworawong, 2010. "The Value of Principles-Based Governance Practices and the Attenuation of Information Asymmetry," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 17(2), pages 171-207, June.
    18. KICHIKAWA Yuichi & IINO Takahiro & IKEDA Yuichi & IYETOMI Hiroshi, 2022. "Firm-level Study on the Global Connection through Stock Ownership Relations," Discussion papers 22112, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    19. Muravyev, Alexander, 2004. "The puzzle of dual class stock in Russia: Explaining the price differential between common and preferred shares," MPRA Paper 27726, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Bennedsen, Morten & Meisner, Kasper, Nielsen, 2006. "The Principle of Proportionality," Working Papers 22-2005, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    21. Claessens, Stijn & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2013. "Corporate governance in emerging markets: A survey," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-33.
    22. Piccardi, Carlo & Calatroni, Lisa & Bertoni, Fabio, 2010. "Communities in Italian corporate networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(22), pages 5247-5258.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Network analysis; Capital centralization; Concentration; Financial crisis; Top holders holding; Ownership and control structures; Marx; Laws of tendency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:eee:streco:v:45:y:2018:i:c:p:94-104. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    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.