Re: social democracy

[Bill Burgess <burgess@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

According to a 1998 NBER paper by Morck, the Wallenberg family controls
corporate assets equal to 40% of the market value of all corporations on
the Swedish stock exchange.

Statistics Canada tells us that 25 enterprises in Canada control 41% of all
corporate assets in the country.

Ownership concentration is lower in the US, e.g., 85% of Standard and Poor
corporations were widely held, while in Canada only 22% of TSE corporations
were widely held (data from the late 1980s; widely held=ownership positions
under 20%).

The Morck paper (cited by Michael P. on Pen-L a couple of years ago) does
an absurd regression between inherited wealth and variables like the level
of public debt and social assistance in various countries, but the data
they collect is generally consistent with a connection between ownership
concentration and social democracy.

Bill Burgess


At 07:06 PM 15/01/02 -0500, you wrote:
> Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> > Another Swedish question.  Doesn't Sweden have one of the most
> > concentrated industrial structures in the world?
>
> Yup, think it does. The Wallenberg family's Investor trust controls some
> enormous portion of Swedish industry. Such structures are good for social
> democracy; dispersed stockowner structures like the U.S.'s are its enemy.
>
> Doug