Capital mobilisation and utilisation in latecomer economies: Germany and Italy compared

Caroline Fohlin

European Review of Economic History, 1999, vol. 3, issue 2, 139-174

Abstract: German-style universal banks are widely believed to improve capital mobilisation and utilisation by stimulating savings, matching savers and investors, and offering business and investment advice to entrepreneurs. Using aggregate and firm-level evidence on deposit taking and branching, banks' liability structure, interlocking directorates between banks and industrial companies, and industrial investment patterns, this article investigates the role of universal banks in two European latecomer economies: Germany and Italy. Comparing the impact of these banks permits some distinction between institutional effects and country-specific effects. The findings suggest that universal banking took on differing forms in Germany and Italy, implying that apparently similar institutions can yield divergent economic outcomes depending on the context in which they develop. For both countries, the results also indicate that the universal banks made a modest impact on capital mobilisation, industrial investment, and economic growth.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:3:y:1999:i:02:p:139-174_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in European Review of Economic History from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().