In Western Europe and East Asia capital markets require higher dividends from corporations tightly affiliated (at the 20% level of control) to a group and within a group from corporations whose controlling shareholder has a lower ratio O/C of ownership to control rights. For loosely-affiliated...

We analyze the ultimate ownership and control of 5,232 corporations in 13 Western European countries. Firms are typically widely held (36.93 percent) or family controlled (44.29 percent). Widely-held firms are more important in the U.K. and Ireland, family-controlled firms in continental Europe....

We analyze the ultimate ownership and control of 3,740 corporations in five Western European countries. We document that families are the most pronounced type of controlling shareholders in Western Europe. In fact, they control 43.9 percent of Western European firms. We also document a...

In Western Europe and East Asia, capital markets require higher dividends from corporations tightly affiliated (at the 20% level of control) to a group and, within a group, from corporations whose controlling shareholder has a lower ratio O/C of ownership to control rights. For...

We regress leverage on an index of corporate exposure to expropriation by the controlling shareholder - the ratio of his ownership rights O to his control rights C - and on an index of creditor rights. Amongst corporations that can access related party loans, a lower O/C ratio increases leverage...

We analyze the ultimate ownership and control of 5,232 corporations in 13 Western European countries. Firms are typically widely held (36.93 percent) or family controlled (44.29 percent). Widely-held firms are more important in the U.K. and Ireland, family-controlled firms in continental Europe....

Whereas most US corporations are widely-held, the predominant form of ownership in East Asia is control by a family, which often supplies a top manager. These features of quot;crony capitalismquot; are actually more pronounced in Western Europe. In both regions, the salient agency problem is...