Graeme Acheson
Biographic Data
| ID | 1629451 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Graeme Acheson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Graeme |
| FAMILY NAME | Acheson |
| SIGNATURE | ACHESON G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Stirling |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7531-2082 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 106 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Women in business
Focusing on women entrepreneurs in a large British city, we examine how women's commercially listed businesses populated that city. Using commercial property rental records, our study allows us to understand sectoral variation and the distribution of businesses across the city and to assess both the absolute and relative contribution of women in the commercial environment. In addition to this, we examine census returns and trade directory informa…
The incidence and persistence of partnerships in a British industrial city
This paper examines the prevalence of business partnerships in a late-nineteenth-century British city, using individual-level data from post office directories and censuses. Focusing on Glasgow, we present a detailed picture of partnership number and type, demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who ran them, and how these businesses persisted over time. We show that partnerships were a key business grouping in the city and demonstrate t…
The anatomy of a bubble company
The London Assurance Company (LA), which incorporated during the bubble of 1720, experienced more dramatic price movements in its shares than the South Sea Company. This paper examines how incorporating during the bubble affected its long run performance. We show that the bubble in the Company's share price was partly attributable to changes in market structure during the share issuance process. As a result of the bubble, the Company's original s…
Independent women
The early twentieth century saw the British capital market reach a state of maturity before any of its global counterparts. This coincided with more women participating directly in the stock market. This study analyses whether these female shareholders chose to invest independently of men. Using a novel dataset of almost 500,000 shareholders in some of the largest British railways, it shows that women were much more likely to be solo shareholders…
Share trading activity and the rise of the rentier in the UK before 1920
Using a hand-collected dataset, we examine share trading activity over the period 1882–1920 for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, one of the largest UK companies of the time. Our main finding is that the steady flow of rentiers into the shareholding constituency of this company stymied share trading activity. Another important finding is that share trading still occurred during the closure of the stock exchange in 1914, but on a…
Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain
Who financed the great expansion of the Victorian equity market, and what attracted them to invest? Using data on 453 firm-years and over 172,000 shareholders, we find that the largest providers of capital were rentiers, men with no formal occupation who relied on investment income. We also see a substantial growth in women investors as time progressed. In terms of clientele effects, we find that rentiers invested in large firms, whilst businessm…
Happy hour followed by hangover
In the last 15 years of the nineteenth century c.300 British brewers incorporated and floated securities on the stock market. Subsequently, in the 1900s, the industry suffered a long-lived hangover. In this article, we establish the stylised facts of this transformation and estimate the gains enjoyed by brewery investors during the boom as well as the losses suffered by investors during the bust of the 1900s. However, not all brewery equity share…
Active Controllers or Wealthy Rentiers? Large Shareholders in Victorian Public Companies
This article addresses the issue of whether large shareholders in Victorian public companies were active in the control of companies or were simply wealthy rentiers. Using ownership records for 890 firm-years, we examine the control rights, socio-occupational background, and wealth of large shareholders. We find that many large shareholders had limited voting rights and neither they nor family members were directors. This implies that the majorit…
Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain
Using ownership and control data for 890 firm-years, this article examines the concentration of capital and voting rights in British companies in the second half of the nineteenth century. We find that both capital and voting rights were diffuse by modern-day standards. However, this does not necessarily mean that there was a modern-style separation of ownership from control in Victorian Britain. One major implication of our findings is that diff…
The character and denomination of shares in the Victorian equity market1
The seminal work of J. B. Jefferys highlighted two unusual features of the Victorian equity market, namely high share denomination and uncalled capital. This article examines the extent to which publicly traded company stocks in the nineteenth century had these features. It also analyses the effect of these features on stock returns using monthly data for the London Stock Market over the period 1825-70. We find that stocks with unpaid capital ear…
Organisational flexibility and governance in a civil-law regime
Unlike their English counterparts, Scottish partnership banks during the Industrial Revolution operated under partnership law which was similar to the French societe en commandite. The article suggests that the definitive feature of this partnership law was that it permitted partnerships to separate ownership from control and stock to be traded. Archival evidence also suggests that Scottish partnership banks had mechanisms to ameliorate potential…
Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market
This article uses the records of nineteenth-century Scottish banks in an attempt to understand investor behaviour in the early British capital market. It presents four main findings, some of which do not conform to the basic assumptions of standard asset pricing theories. First, in an era when efficient portfolio diversification was not possible, the intrinsic risk of an equity security was an important input into investor decision-making. Second…
Rule Britannia! British Stock Market Returns, 1825-1870
This article presents a new series of monthly equity returns for the British stock market for the period 1825-1870. In addition to calculating capital appreciation and dividend yields, the article also estimates the effect of survivorship bias on returns. Three notable findings emerge from this study. First, stock market returns in the 1825-1870 period are broadly similar for Britain and the United States, although the British market is less risk…
The death blow to unlimited liability in Victorian Britain
The impact of limited liability on ownership and control
Limited liability is regarded as the sine qua non of the modern company, enabling firms to raise capital from a broad spectrum of investors who have well-diversified portfolios. This article uses the ownership records of an Irish bank, which converted to limited liability in 1883, to explore the impact of introducing limited liability upon ownership and control. We find that ownership becomes more dispersed amongst individuals from a broader soci…
Rule Britannia! British Stock Market Returns, 1825-1870
This article presents a new series of monthly equity returns for the British stock market for the period 1825-1870. In addition to calculating capital appreciation and dividend yields, the article also estimates the effect of survivorship bias on returns. Three notable findings emerge from this study. First, stock market returns in the 1825-1870 period are broadly similar for Britain and the United States, although the British market is less risk…
Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain
Who financed the great expansion of the Victorian equity market, and what attracted them to invest? Using data on 453 firm-years and over 172,000 shareholders, we find that the largest providers of capital were rentiers, men with no formal occupation who relied on investment income. We also see a substantial growth in women investors as time progressed. In terms of clientele effects, we find that rentiers invested in large firms, whilst businessm…
Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain
Using ownership and control data for 890 firm-years, this article examines the concentration of capital and voting rights in British companies in the second half of the nineteenth century. We find that both capital and voting rights were diffuse by modern-day standards. However, this does not necessarily mean that there was a modern-style separation of ownership from control in Victorian Britain. One major implication of our findings is that diff…
The character and denomination of shares in the Victorian equity market1
The seminal work of J. B. Jefferys highlighted two unusual features of the Victorian equity market, namely high share denomination and uncalled capital. This article examines the extent to which publicly traded company stocks in the nineteenth century had these features. It also analyses the effect of these features on stock returns using monthly data for the London Stock Market over the period 1825-70. We find that stocks with unpaid capital ear…
Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market
This article uses the records of nineteenth-century Scottish banks in an attempt to understand investor behaviour in the early British capital market. It presents four main findings, some of which do not conform to the basic assumptions of standard asset pricing theories. First, in an era when efficient portfolio diversification was not possible, the intrinsic risk of an equity security was an important input into investor decision-making. Second…
The death blow to unlimited liability in Victorian Britain
Happy hour followed by hangover
In the last 15 years of the nineteenth century c.300 British brewers incorporated and floated securities on the stock market. Subsequently, in the 1900s, the industry suffered a long-lived hangover. In this article, we establish the stylised facts of this transformation and estimate the gains enjoyed by brewery investors during the boom as well as the losses suffered by investors during the bust of the 1900s. However, not all brewery equity share…
The impact of limited liability on ownership and control
Limited liability is regarded as the sine qua non of the modern company, enabling firms to raise capital from a broad spectrum of investors who have well-diversified portfolios. This article uses the ownership records of an Irish bank, which converted to limited liability in 1883, to explore the impact of introducing limited liability upon ownership and control. We find that ownership becomes more dispersed amongst individuals from a broader soci…
Active Controllers or Wealthy Rentiers? Large Shareholders in Victorian Public Companies
This article addresses the issue of whether large shareholders in Victorian public companies were active in the control of companies or were simply wealthy rentiers. Using ownership records for 890 firm-years, we examine the control rights, socio-occupational background, and wealth of large shareholders. We find that many large shareholders had limited voting rights and neither they nor family members were directors. This implies that the majorit…
Organisational flexibility and governance in a civil-law regime
Unlike their English counterparts, Scottish partnership banks during the Industrial Revolution operated under partnership law which was similar to the French societe en commandite. The article suggests that the definitive feature of this partnership law was that it permitted partnerships to separate ownership from control and stock to be traded. Archival evidence also suggests that Scottish partnership banks had mechanisms to ameliorate potential…
Independent women
The early twentieth century saw the British capital market reach a state of maturity before any of its global counterparts. This coincided with more women participating directly in the stock market. This study analyses whether these female shareholders chose to invest independently of men. Using a novel dataset of almost 500,000 shareholders in some of the largest British railways, it shows that women were much more likely to be solo shareholders…
Share trading activity and the rise of the rentier in the UK before 1920
Using a hand-collected dataset, we examine share trading activity over the period 1882–1920 for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, one of the largest UK companies of the time. Our main finding is that the steady flow of rentiers into the shareholding constituency of this company stymied share trading activity. Another important finding is that share trading still occurred during the closure of the stock exchange in 1914, but on a…
The incidence and persistence of partnerships in a British industrial city
This paper examines the prevalence of business partnerships in a late-nineteenth-century British city, using individual-level data from post office directories and censuses. Focusing on Glasgow, we present a detailed picture of partnership number and type, demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who ran them, and how these businesses persisted over time. We show that partnerships were a key business grouping in the city and demonstrate t…
The anatomy of a bubble company
The London Assurance Company (LA), which incorporated during the bubble of 1720, experienced more dramatic price movements in its shares than the South Sea Company. This paper examines how incorporating during the bubble affected its long run performance. We show that the bubble in the Company's share price was partly attributable to changes in market structure during the share issuance process. As a result of the bubble, the Company's original s…
The impact of limited liability on ownership and control
Limited liability is regarded as the sine qua non of the modern company, enabling firms to raise capital from a broad spectrum of investors who have well-diversified portfolios. This article uses the ownership records of an Irish bank, which converted to limited liability in 1883, to explore the impact of introducing limited liability upon ownership and control. We find that ownership becomes more dispersed amongst individuals from a broader soci…
The death blow to unlimited liability in Victorian Britain
Rule Britannia! British Stock Market Returns, 1825-1870
This article presents a new series of monthly equity returns for the British stock market for the period 1825-1870. In addition to calculating capital appreciation and dividend yields, the article also estimates the effect of survivorship bias on returns. Three notable findings emerge from this study. First, stock market returns in the 1825-1870 period are broadly similar for Britain and the United States, although the British market is less risk…
Organisational flexibility and governance in a civil-law regime
Unlike their English counterparts, Scottish partnership banks during the Industrial Revolution operated under partnership law which was similar to the French societe en commandite. The article suggests that the definitive feature of this partnership law was that it permitted partnerships to separate ownership from control and stock to be traded. Archival evidence also suggests that Scottish partnership banks had mechanisms to ameliorate potential…
Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market
This article uses the records of nineteenth-century Scottish banks in an attempt to understand investor behaviour in the early British capital market. It presents four main findings, some of which do not conform to the basic assumptions of standard asset pricing theories. First, in an era when efficient portfolio diversification was not possible, the intrinsic risk of an equity security was an important input into investor decision-making. Second…
The character and denomination of shares in the Victorian equity market1
The seminal work of J. B. Jefferys highlighted two unusual features of the Victorian equity market, namely high share denomination and uncalled capital. This article examines the extent to which publicly traded company stocks in the nineteenth century had these features. It also analyses the effect of these features on stock returns using monthly data for the London Stock Market over the period 1825-70. We find that stocks with unpaid capital ear…
Active Controllers or Wealthy Rentiers? Large Shareholders in Victorian Public Companies
This article addresses the issue of whether large shareholders in Victorian public companies were active in the control of companies or were simply wealthy rentiers. Using ownership records for 890 firm-years, we examine the control rights, socio-occupational background, and wealth of large shareholders. We find that many large shareholders had limited voting rights and neither they nor family members were directors. This implies that the majorit…
Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain
Using ownership and control data for 890 firm-years, this article examines the concentration of capital and voting rights in British companies in the second half of the nineteenth century. We find that both capital and voting rights were diffuse by modern-day standards. However, this does not necessarily mean that there was a modern-style separation of ownership from control in Victorian Britain. One major implication of our findings is that diff…
Happy hour followed by hangover
In the last 15 years of the nineteenth century c.300 British brewers incorporated and floated securities on the stock market. Subsequently, in the 1900s, the industry suffered a long-lived hangover. In this article, we establish the stylised facts of this transformation and estimate the gains enjoyed by brewery investors during the boom as well as the losses suffered by investors during the bust of the 1900s. However, not all brewery equity share…
Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain
Who financed the great expansion of the Victorian equity market, and what attracted them to invest? Using data on 453 firm-years and over 172,000 shareholders, we find that the largest providers of capital were rentiers, men with no formal occupation who relied on investment income. We also see a substantial growth in women investors as time progressed. In terms of clientele effects, we find that rentiers invested in large firms, whilst businessm…
Share trading activity and the rise of the rentier in the UK before 1920
Using a hand-collected dataset, we examine share trading activity over the period 1882–1920 for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, one of the largest UK companies of the time. Our main finding is that the steady flow of rentiers into the shareholding constituency of this company stymied share trading activity. Another important finding is that share trading still occurred during the closure of the stock exchange in 1914, but on a…
Independent women
The early twentieth century saw the British capital market reach a state of maturity before any of its global counterparts. This coincided with more women participating directly in the stock market. This study analyses whether these female shareholders chose to invest independently of men. Using a novel dataset of almost 500,000 shareholders in some of the largest British railways, it shows that women were much more likely to be solo shareholders…
The anatomy of a bubble company
The London Assurance Company (LA), which incorporated during the bubble of 1720, experienced more dramatic price movements in its shares than the South Sea Company. This paper examines how incorporating during the bubble affected its long run performance. We show that the bubble in the Company's share price was partly attributable to changes in market structure during the share issuance process. As a result of the bubble, the Company's original s…
The incidence and persistence of partnerships in a British industrial city
This paper examines the prevalence of business partnerships in a late-nineteenth-century British city, using individual-level data from post office directories and censuses. Focusing on Glasgow, we present a detailed picture of partnership number and type, demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who ran them, and how these businesses persisted over time. We show that partnerships were a key business grouping in the city and demonstrate t…
Women in business
Focusing on women entrepreneurs in a large British city, we examine how women's commercially listed businesses populated that city. Using commercial property rental records, our study allows us to understand sectoral variation and the distribution of businesses across the city and to assess both the absolute and relative contribution of women in the commercial environment. In addition to this, we examine census returns and trade directory informa…
Economics (13 works) · Finance (12 works) · Finance (12 works) · Business (11 works) · Corporate governance (10 works) · Corporate Finance and Governance (9 works) · Historical Economic and Social Studies (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · History (7 works)