Resumé
The paper extends the model of market-led change by two important observations: first, market pressure is not the only driver of legal change, but the law itself in this case contributed to facilitating competition. Notably, a taxation law reform enabled and accelerated the competition process already underway. Legal rules and market competition may thus be understood as not operating in isolation, but as forces that can be working in dialog. Secondly, the paper highlights the importance of ownership structure as an important intermediate condition in the logical order between market competition and legal change.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Udgivelses sted | Oxford |
| Udgiver | University of Oxford |
| Antal sider | 33 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - jun. 2014 |
| Navn | Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper |
|---|---|
| Nummer | 42/2014 |
Emneord
- Corporate governance
- Shareholders
- Germany
- Dispersion of ownership
- Market-based legal change
Citer dette
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Changing Law and Ownership Patterns in Germany : Corporate Governance and the Erosion of Deutschland AG. / Ringe, Wolf-Georg.
Oxford : University of Oxford, 2014.Publikation: Working paper › Forskning
TY - UNPB
T1 - Changing Law and Ownership Patterns in Germany
T2 - Corporate Governance and the Erosion of Deutschland AG
AU - Ringe, Wolf-Georg
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - German corporate governance and corporate law are currently undergoing a major change. The old “Deutschland AG”, a nationwide network of firms, banks, and directors, is eroding, ownership is diffusing and the shareholder body is becoming more international than ever. This paper presents new data to support this development and explores the consequences in governance and in law that have been taken or that need to be drawn from this finding. Consistent with market-based theoretical accounts on corporate law, it finds that the changes currently underway are mainly a response to global market pressure: German banks divested their equity stakes mainly as a consequence of increased international competition.The paper extends the model of market-led change by two important observations: first, market pressure is not the only driver of legal change, but the law itself in this case contributed to facilitating competition. Notably, a taxation law reform enabled and accelerated the competition process already underway. Legal rules and market competition may thus be understood as not operating in isolation, but as forces that can be working in dialog. Secondly, the paper highlights the importance of ownership structure as an important intermediate condition in the logical order between market competition and legal change.
AB - German corporate governance and corporate law are currently undergoing a major change. The old “Deutschland AG”, a nationwide network of firms, banks, and directors, is eroding, ownership is diffusing and the shareholder body is becoming more international than ever. This paper presents new data to support this development and explores the consequences in governance and in law that have been taken or that need to be drawn from this finding. Consistent with market-based theoretical accounts on corporate law, it finds that the changes currently underway are mainly a response to global market pressure: German banks divested their equity stakes mainly as a consequence of increased international competition.The paper extends the model of market-led change by two important observations: first, market pressure is not the only driver of legal change, but the law itself in this case contributed to facilitating competition. Notably, a taxation law reform enabled and accelerated the competition process already underway. Legal rules and market competition may thus be understood as not operating in isolation, but as forces that can be working in dialog. Secondly, the paper highlights the importance of ownership structure as an important intermediate condition in the logical order between market competition and legal change.
KW - Corporate governance
KW - Shareholders
KW - Germany
KW - Dispersion of ownership
KW - Market-based legal change
U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.2457431
DO - 10.2139/ssrn.2457431
M3 - Working paper
T3 - Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper
BT - Changing Law and Ownership Patterns in Germany
PB - University of Oxford
CY - Oxford
ER -