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The diffusion and impact of the corporation in 1910

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  • Foreman-Peck, James
  • Hannah, Leslie

Abstract

With new and comprehensive data on the international spread of listed and unlisted corporations before the First World War, this article shows the prominence of common law and Scandinavian civil law in the process. This association is interpreted as demonstrating the strong contribution of liberal (laissez-faire) industrial stances. The findings confirm an extended version of Rajan and Zingales's hypothesis that trade and capital openness are necessary for companies to flourish. Despite the possibilities that companies were created for fraud and exploitation, countries using the corporate form more extensively before 1914 had higher GDP per capita. Through this process, the benefit of imperialism extended to British dominions, but not much, if at all, to British dependent colonies.

Suggested Citation

  • Foreman-Peck, James & Hannah, Leslie, 2014. "The diffusion and impact of the corporation in 1910," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 61861, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:61861
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61861/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Blanche Segrestin & Andrew Johnston & Armand Hatchuel, 2019. "The Separation Of Directors And Managers: A Historical Examination Of The Status Of Managers," Post-Print hal-01957329, HAL.
    2. Hannah, Leslie & Kasuya, Makoto, 2015. "Twentieth century enterprise forms: Japan in comparative perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64489, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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