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Independent women: investing in British railways, 1870–1922 †
Author(s) -
Acheson Graeme G.,
Campbell Gareth,
Gallagher Áine,
Turner John D.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/ehr.12968
Subject(s) - shareholder , stock market , maturity (psychological) , independence (probability theory) , stock (firearms) , capital (architecture) , state (computer science) , capital market , business , economics , demographic economics , political science , finance , history , corporate governance , law , ancient history , algorithm , context (archaeology) , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , computer science
The early twentieth century saw the British capital market reach a state of maturity before any of its global counterparts. This coincided with more women participating directly in the stock market. This study analyses whether these female shareholders chose to invest independently of men. Using a novel dataset of almost 500,000 shareholders in some of the largest British railways, it shows that women were much more likely to be solo shareholders than men. There is also evidence that they prioritized their independence above other considerations such as where they invested or how diversified they could be.