This paper evaluates relations between industrial activity and the structure of countries' financial, ownership and legal systems. Using data on 27 industries in 14 OECD countries over the period 1970 to 1995, we evaluate whether the structure of countries' systems is associated with different...

This paper summarizes the conventional wisdom concerning differences between financial systems. It argues that many of them do not stand up to close scrutiny. Instead, it suggests that the main differences concern the concentration and nature of ownership. Systems with high concentrations of...

A significant recent development has been the extension of market processes to activities which were previously provided by the public sector. A central feature of newly privatized markets is the emergence of widespread forms of contracting. Explicit contracting is used where in the past...

Patterns of corporate control vary markedly across countries. This paper examines the reasons for these differences and their consequences for corporate performance. It finds that they primarily result from differences in the ownership of firms and their legal forms. These affect the relative...