IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wes/weswpa/2024-013.html

Living La Vida Loca? Remote Investing in Latin America, 1869-1929

Author

Listed:
  • Gareth Campbell

    (Queen’s University Belfast)

  • Áine Gallagher

    (Queen’s University Belfast)

  • Richard S.Grossman

    (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University)

Abstract

Substantial amounts of British capital flowed to Latin America during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Companies financed by this capital were typically headquartered in the UK, but operated thousands of miles away. This paper asks how this separation between governance and place of business affected the valuation of these firms. We find that the location of the headquarters played a more important role than the location of operations. Stock prices tended to fluctuate in line with other equities based in the UK, suggesting that they were still regarded as being, at least partially, British companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Gareth Campbell & Áine Gallagher & Richard S.Grossman, 2024. "Living La Vida Loca? Remote Investing in Latin America, 1869-1929," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2024-013, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wes:weswpa:2024-013
    Note: Later version available at http://repec.wesleyan.edu/pdf/rgrossman/2025010_grossman.pdf
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.wesleyan.edu/pdf/rgrossman/2024013_grossman.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pukthuanthong, Kuntara & Roll, Richard, 2009. "Global market integration: An alternative measure and its application," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 214-232, November.
    2. Brian Mitchell & David Chambers & Nick Crafts, 2011. "How good was the profitability of British railways, 1870–1912?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(3), pages 798-831, August.
    3. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos, 2016. "Putting all their eggs in one basket? Portfolio diversification 1870–1902," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 285-305, September.
    4. Goetzmann, William N. & Jorion, Philippe, 1999. "Re-Emerging Markets," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 1-32, March.
    5. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
    6. Ford, A. G., 1971. "British Investment in Argentina and Long Swings, 1880–1914," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 650-663, September.
    7. Fabio Braggion & Lyndon Moore, 2011. "Dividend Policies in an Unregulated Market: The London Stock Exchange, 1895--1905," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(9), pages 2935-2973.
    8. Blass, Asher & Yafeh, Yishay, 2001. "Vagabond shoes longing to stray: Why foreign firms list in the United States," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 555-572, March.
    9. Graeme G. Acheson & Gareth Campbell & John D. Turner, 2017. "Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(4), pages 607-637, May.
    10. Graeme G. Acheson & John D. Turner, 2011. "Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market: Scottish bank shareholders in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 188-213, February.
    11. Mitchener, Kris James & Weidenmier, Marc D., 2008. "The Baring Crisis and the Great Latin American Meltdown of the 1890s," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 462-500, June.
    12. John D. Turner & Qing Ye & Wenwen Zhan, 2013. "Why Do Firms Pay Dividends?: Evidence from an Early and Unregulated Capital Market," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1787-1826.
    13. Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & Janette Rutterford, 2019. "Financial diversification strategies before World War I: Buy-and-hold versus naïve portfolio selection," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(7), pages 1175-1198, October.
    14. Olivier Accominotti & Marc Flandreau & Riad Rezzik, 2011. "The spread of empire: Clio and the measurement of colonial borrowing costs," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(2), pages 385-407, May.
    15. B. Cheffins, 2001. "History and the Global Corporate Governance Revolution: The UK Perspective," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 87-118.
    16. Ferguson, Niall & Schularick, Moritz, 2006. "The Empire Effect: The Determinants of Country Risk in the First Age of Globalization, 1880–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 283-312, June.
    17. Stone, Irving, 1972. "British Investment in Argentina," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 546-547, June.
    18. Gareth Campbell & Meeghan Rogers, 2017. "Integration between the London and New York Stock Exchanges, 1825–1925," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1185-1218, November.
    19. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos, 2016. "Financial diversification before modern portfolio theory: UK financial advice documents in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 919-945, November.
    20. Ryland Thomas & Sally Hills & Nicholas Dimsdale, 2010. "The UK recession in context — what do three centuries of data tell us?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 50(4), pages 277-291.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ces:ceswps:_11562 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gareth Campbell & Áine Gallagher & Richard S.Grossman, 2025. "Remote Investing in Latin America, 1869-1929," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2025-010, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    3. Campbell, Gareth & Gallagher, Áine & Grossman, Richard S., 2025. "Remote investing in Latin America, 1869-1929," QUCEH Working Paper Series 25-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    4. 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.
    5. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Gallagher, Áine & Turner, John D., 2018. "Independent women: Shareholders in the age of the suffragettes," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    6. Richard S.Grossman, 2017. "Beresford’s Revenge: British equity holdings in Latin America, 1869-1929," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2017-003, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    7. Graeme G. Acheson & Gareth Campbell & Áine Gallagher & John D. Turner, 2021. "Independent women: investing in British railways, 1870–1922," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 471-495, May.
    8. Turner, John D., 2014. "Financial history and financial economics," QUCEH Working Paper Series 14-03, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    9. Matthieu Chavaz & Marc Flandreau, 2015. "‘High and dry’: the liquidity and credit of colonial and foreign government debt in the London Stock Exchange (1880–1910)," Bank of England working papers 555, Bank of England.
    10. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & Carry van Lieshout, 2023. "Individual investors and social ownership structures in the UK before the 1930s: Joint holdings and trustee investment," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 661-692, May.
    11. Flandreau, Marc & Chavaz, Matthieu, 2016. "“High & Dry†: The Liquidity and Credit of Colonial and Foreign Government Debt and the London Stock Exchange (1880-1910)," CEPR Discussion Papers 11679, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Grossman, Richard, 2017. "Beresford’s Revenge: British equity holdings in Latin America, 1869-1929," CEPR Discussion Papers 12042, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Michael Tomz & Mark L.J. Wright, 2013. "Empirical Research on Sovereign Debt and Default," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 247-272, May.
    14. Ian Webster, 2022. "Making the municipal capital market in nineteenth‐century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(1), pages 56-79, February.
    15. Richard S. Grossman, 2015. "Bloody foreigners! Overseas equity on the London Stock Exchange, 1869–1929," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 471-521, May.
    16. Gram, Dennis & Karapanagiotis, Pantelis & Krzyzanowski, Jan & Liebald, Marius & Walz, Uwe, 2021. "An extensible model for historical financial data with an application to German company and stock market data," SAFE Working Paper Series 300, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    17. Edwyna Harris & Sumner La Croix, 2018. "Did Speculation in Land Pay Off for British Investors? Buying and Selecting Land in South Australia, 1835-1850," CEH Discussion Papers 09, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    18. Kramer, Bert S. & Milionis, Petros, 2022. "Democratic constraints and adherence to the classical gold standard," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Gardner, Leigh, 2022. "The collapse of the gold standard in Africa: money and colonialism in the interwar period," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116665, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Gwaindepi, Abel, 2019. "Serving God and Mammon: The ‘Minerals-Railway Complex’ and its effects on colonial public finances in the British Cape Colony, 1810-1910," African Economic History Working Paper 44/2019, African Economic History Network.
    21. Kris James Mitchener & Gonçalo Pina, 2016. "Pegxit Pressure: Evidence from the Classical Gold Standard," NBER Working Papers 22844, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F54 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
    • F65 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Finance
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • N16 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • N26 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Latin America; Caribbean

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wes:weswpa:2024-013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Manolis Kaparakis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edwesus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.