In 1900 US business corporations were dominated by plutocratic family owners, while British and French quoted companies showed higher levels of divorce of shareholding owners from management controllers. Distinctive European 'democratic' corporate governance rules explain some of Europe's...

We present the first broadly representative study for any early twentieth century economy of the extent to which quoted company ownership was already divorced from managerial control. In the 337 largest, independent, UK companies in the Investor's Year Book (those with \pounds 1m or more share...

We compare the experiences of the US and UK during and after the Great Depression, with particular attention to overall productivity growth, industrial organization, the growth of human capital, and protectionism. We discover many implications of the Great Depression experience and policies for...