The Economic Benefits of Political Connections in Late Victorian Britain

F. Braggion, L. Moore

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Abstract

The late-Victorian era was characteristed by especially close links between politicians and firms in the UK. Roughly half of all members of Parliament served as company directors, many as directors of multiple firms. We analyze 467 British companies over the period 1895 to 1904 to investigate the interaction of firms and politicians. We find that new-technology firms with politicians serving on their boards were more likely to issue equity finance and had higher Tobin's Q. Our evidence suggests that causality runs from director-politicians to a firm's performance, rather than in the opposite direction.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationTilburg
PublisherFinance
Volume2011-039
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Publication series

NameCentER Discussion Paper
Volume2011-039

Keywords

  • Political Connections
  • Second Industrial Revolution
  • External Finance

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