How dependent were Belgian investors on Belgian Congo? This chart shows the share of Brussels Stock Exchange dividends paid by Congo-based firms, 1890–1962. By the mid 20th century, colonial firms were paying 30-40% of all dividends on the BSE.
In praise of speculation, from Émile Zola’s Money (L’Argent). As someone researching 19th-century corporate finance, reading this amazing novel feels like watching my subject come alive.
Note the spike after WW2 ended: firms in German-occupied Belgium were allowed to pay (restricted) dividends during the war, but Congo firms could hardly do so as Congo was outside German control. The profits they accumulated during the war were paid as dividends after the war.
Artikel in Bank- en Financiewezen: financialforum.be/nl/bfw-digit...
Article link: doi.org/10.1111/ehr....
My new article in the Economic History Review: I show that Belgian financial elites were far more involved in companies operating in King Leopold’s Congo Free State than in other Belgian firms, challenging the view that these elites had little interest in the Congo Free State.