Rentier capitalism and the equity market: shareholders in Victorian public companies

Graeme Acheson, Gareth Campbell and John Turner ()
Additional contact information
Graeme Acheson: University of Stirling
Gareth Campbell: Queen’s University Belfast

No 15010, Working Papers from Economic History Society

Abstract: "Using data on 453 firm-years and over 172,000 shareholders, this paper examines who invested in the equities of companies created during the substantial expansion of the British equity market in the second half of the nineteenth century. It also analyses whether there were clientele effects, where particular types of stocks and companies were more attractive to certain types of investors. Over the entire sample, we find that gentlemen capitalists and women rentiers provided circa 60 per cent of capital and constituted about 60 per cent of investors. We also find that there was a substantial growth in women investors over the century. In terms of clientele effects, we find that the upper classes were more likely to invest in large, London-based firms. However, businessmen provided more capital for domestic, family firms, based in the regions. Women investors exhibited a preference for equities which paid a dividend and which were relatively safe. "

Keywords: "Shareholders; Equity; Stock market; Gentlemen capitalists; Rentiers; Gender" (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G10 N23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/c43e9f22-abf7-41e5-9930-7f5e9ffa98c2.docx
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/c43e9f22-abf7-41e5-9930-7f5e9ffa98c2.docx [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/c43e9f22-abf7-41e5-9930-7f5e9ffa98c2.docx)

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:ehs:wpaper:15010

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Economic History Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chair Public Engagement Committe (currently David Higgins - Newcastle) ().