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The Trading of Unlimited Liability Bank Shares in Nineteenth-Century Ireland: The Bagehot Hypothesis

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  • HICKSON, CHARLES R.
  • TURNER, JOHN D.

Abstract

In the mid-1820s, banks became the first businesses in Great Britain and Ireland to be allowed to form freely on an unlimited liability joint-stock basis. Walter Bagehot warned that their shares would ultimately be owned by widows, orphans, and other impecunious individuals. Another hypothesis is that the governing bodies of these banks, constrained by special legal restrictions on share trading, acted effectively to prevent such shares being transferred to the less wealthy. We test both conjectures using the archives of an Irish joint-stock bank. The results do not support Bagehot's hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Hickson, Charles R. & Turner, John D., 2003. "The Trading of Unlimited Liability Bank Shares in Nineteenth-Century Ireland: The Bagehot Hypothesis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(4), pages 931-958, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:63:y:2003:i:04:p:931-958_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Jenter, Dirk & Aldunate, Felipe & Korteweg, Arthur & Koudijs, Peter, 2021. "Shareholder Liability and Bank Failure," CEPR Discussion Papers 16309, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Joshua R. Hendrickson, 2014. "Contingent Liability, Capital Requirements, and Financial Reform," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 34(1), pages 129-144, Winter.
    3. Bogle, David A. & Campbell, Gareth & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2022. "Why did shareholder liability disappear?," QUCEH Working Paper Series 22-12, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    4. Grodecka, Anna & Kotidis, Antonis, 2016. "Double Liability in a Branch Banking System: Historical Evidence from Canada," Working Paper Series 316, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    5. Salter, Alexander W. & Veetil, Vipin & White, Lawrence H., 2017. "Extended shareholder liability as a means to constrain moral hazard in insured banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 153-160.
    6. Turner, John D., 2024. "Three centuries of corporate governance in the UK," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    7. Ilgmann, Cordelius, 2011. "The advent of corporate limited liability in Prussia 1843," CAWM Discussion Papers 46, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    8. Richard S. Grossman & Masami Imai, 2011. "Contingent Capital and Bank Risk-Taking among British Banks before World War I," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2011-003, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    9. Bargeron, Leonce & Lehn, Kenneth, 2017. "Limited liability and share transferability: An analysis of California firms, 1920–1940," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 451-468.
    10. Acheson, Graeme G. & Turner, John D., 2008. "The death blow to unlimited liability in Victorian Britain: The City of Glasgow failure," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 235-253, July.

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