A History of Corporate Finance

An overview of the role of institutions and organisations in the development of corporate finance.

Jonathan Barron Baskin (Author), Paul J. Miranti, Jr (Author)

9780521555142, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 February 1997

364 pages, 5 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.9 cm, 0.645 kg

'… this is a well-informed work, describing a series of coherent financial systems which constitutes an adequate introduction to the subject, albeit a conceptually restricted one.' Contemporary European History

This study focuses on the role of institutions and organisations in the historical development of corporate finance. The book provides an overview of the evolution of practice in this field from the Italian merchant banks of the Renaissance through the formation of conglomerates and leveraged-buy-out partnerships in contemporary Wall Street. It also puts forth a compelling argument for the closer integration of historical and quantitative research methodologies in advancing finance theory. Additionally, the epilogue defines an original algorithm that explains the relationship between the short-term, firm-specific factors and longer-term environmental elements that have shaped the historical development of finance.

Preface
1. History and the modern theory of finance
2. Medieval and Renaissance origins
3. Corporate finance in an age of global exploration: trading companies and oceanic discovery, 1450–1720
4. The emergence of public markets for investment securities, 1688–1815
5. Finance in an age of canals and railroads, 1775–1900
6. Common stock finance and the rise of managerial capitalism, 1900–1940
7. The financing of center firms, 1940–1973
8. Conglomerates and leveraged buy-out partnerships
Appendix one: Finance and informational asymmetries in the ancient world
Appendix two: International patterns of corporate governance
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]