The Conscience of History: An Interview with Dr Jonathan Steinberg

Dr Jonathon Steinberg was born in New York and now teaches history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has written numerous books on modern German history, including one on Admiral Tirpitz and the birth of the German fleet. He was the historical expert in one of Australia's recent War Crimes trials, and spent a few weeks as a visiting lecturer in the History Department at the University of Western Australia. During his stay, he spoke to Mark Lindsay

Determinants of Corporate Financial Disclosure in an Unregulated Environment: Evidence from the Early 20th Century

We investigate the determinants of corporate financial reporting in an unregulated setting. Prior to the First World War, limited liability companies in Belgium were obliged to publish financial statements, but financial reporting was virtually unregulated. Investor protection was generally very poor. Nevertheless, Belgian stock markets were booming. While the amount of information disclosed in the financial statements was generally low relative to the current levels of disclosure, there was significant variation in financial reporting across firms. Our results suggest that financial reporting was significantly affected by universal bank affiliations, bond financing and stock returns. Dividends were a substitute for income statement transparency.

Bank affiliations and corporate dividend policy in pre-World War I Belgium

We investigate the impact of universal banks on the dividend policy of affiliated companies, in an environment characterised by poor investor protection, booming stock markets and strong banks. Our results, based on a unique sample of 428 listed companies in pre-World War I Belgium, are consistent with the hypothesis that companies with good investment opportunities and a bank director on their board paid higher dividends to establish a good reputation with investors. However, our results also indicate that companies with several bank directors and companies in which the bank had an equity stake paid lower dividends.corporate finance, corporate governance, financial history,

Do universal banks create value? Universal bank affiliation and company performance in Belgium, 1905-1909

We investigate the impact of universal bank relations on the performance and the risk of listed companies in Belgium in the period 1905-1909. Our results are consistent with the view that universal banks are efficient institutions which overcome problems of asymmetric association inevitably associated with external finance. We find that universal bank affiliation was positively linked with market-to-book ratio and return-on-assets. Performance was also positively related to the degree of bank involvement. Universal bank relations were significant and negatively correlated with volatility of return-on-assets. Finally, stock return performance, measured by the Sharpe ratio, was also significantly better for affiliated corporations. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved