New publication with Luca Farè, Michele Meoli and Silvio Vismara, in which we investigate the relation between board size and IPO value before WW1 when investor protection was very weak. We find a substantial relation, especially for firms operating abroad. Open access. doi.org/10.1111/corg...
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.
doi.org
Research Question/Issue
At the turn of the 20th century, firms raised capital in a highly unregulated market characterized by severe information asymmetries and weak legal protection. In such a cont.....
Some historical evidence that is unfortunately relevant today: in a paper forthcoming in @businesshistory.bsky.social, Leentje Moortgat, Gertjan Verdickt and I find that the uncertainty created by war threat negatively affected entrepreneurship in Belgium before WW I.
Link: doi.org/10.1080/0007...
Marc Deloof
Marc Deloof
Marc Deloof
Wel merkwaardig dat dit artikel in @standaard.be niet vermeldt dat Henri Le Boeuf de schoonzoon (en werknemer) van Albert Thys was, de drijvende kracht achter het grootste (en meest succesvolle) zakenimperium in de Congo Vrijstaat.
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.
