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Book Review - Krahnen/Schmidt, The German Financial System (2004) - Jan Pieter Krahnen and Reinhard H. Schmidt, editors, The German Financial System, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. 2004, ISBN 0-19-925316-1, pp. 550, Price £79.00. Also available at Oxford Scholarship Online.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
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- Copyright © 2005 by German Law Journal GbR
References
1 Information on the Center for Financial Studies and its activities is available at http://www.ifk-cfs.de/English/homepages/h-wiruberuns.htm.Google Scholar
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9 See, for example, Baums, Theodor & Scott, Kenneth, “Taking Shareholder Protection Seriously? Corporate Governance in the United States and Germany,” Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Institute for Banking Law, Working Paper No. 119 (2003), available at http://www.jura.uni-frankfurt.de/baums/; Baums, Changing Patterns of Corporate Disclosure in Continental Europe: The Example of Germany, in: Girurisprudenza Commerciale (2003); Baums, Chapter on Germany, in: Shareholder Voting Rights and Practices in Europe and The United States 109 (Baums, Theodor & Wymeersch, Eddy, eds. 1999); Baums, The German Banking System and its Impact on Corporate Finance and Governance, in: The Japanese Main Bank System 409 (Aoki, Masahiko & Patrick, Hugh, eds. 1995); and Baums, Takeovers versus Institutions in Corporate Governance in Germany, in: Contemporary Issues in Corporate Governance 151 (Prentice, D. D. & Holland, P. R. J., eds. 1993).Google Scholar
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12 See, for example, Stolleis, Michael, A History of Public Law in Germany 1914-1945 (Thomas Dunlap, trans., 2004). The German edition of this work is cited in footnote 4.Google Scholar
13 The chapter is available free of charge in PDF form on the Oxford University Press website at http://www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-925316-1.pdf.Google Scholar
14 Krahnen, Jan Pieter & Schmidt, Reinhard H., eds. The German Financial System 4 (2004).Google Scholar
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18 On the Investment Modernisation Act, see Wallach, Edgar, Hedge Funds Regulation in Germany, in: Hedge Funds: Risks and Regulation 119 (Baums, Theodor & Cahn, Andreas, eds. 2004).Google Scholar
19 Since the book was published, Germany has adopted the Investor Protection Improvement Act of 28 October 2004 (Das Gesetz zur Verbesserung des Anlegerschutzes vom 28.10.2004), which significantly amended the Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) to bring German rules on insider dealing and market manipulation into conformance with EU rules, a Business Integrity and Modernization of Shareholder Actions Act (Gesetzes zur Unternehmensintegrität und Modernisierung des Anfechtungsrechts, or “UMAG”), which facilitates shareholder suits against management, and the Securities Suit Joinder Act (Gesetzes zur Einführung von Kapitalanleger-Musterverfahren), which allows a number of related securities complaints to be joined together for streamlined proceedings.Google Scholar
20 For a summary of the German government's program to reform corporate governance and the measures taken up through 2002, see Baums, Theodor, Company Law Reform in Germany, Journal of Corporate Studies 181 (2003). Professor Baums chaired the government's special Commission that studied German corporate and securities law and produced a report containing recommendations in 2001. For an inside account of the Commission's work, see Baums, Reforming German Corporate Governance, Interview, 2 German L.J. No. 12 (16 July 2001), available at: http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=43. Most of the Government Commission's recommendations have been enacted. See preceding note for a partial list of laws enacted. An English translation of the Commission's recommendations is available as an annex to Theodor Baums, Company Law Reform in Germany, Institut für Bankrecht Arbeitspapier No. 100 (2003), available at http://www.jura.uni-frankfurt.de/ifawz1/baums/Bilder_und_Daten/Arbeitspapiere/.Google Scholar
21 For an in-depth analysis (in German) of the German regulation of debt issues and reforms that are being contemplated, see Baums, Theodor & Cahn, Andreas, eds. Die Reform des Schuldverschreibungsrechts (2004).Google Scholar
22 For information on the establishment of Eurex, see Kümpel, Siegfried, Bank- und Kapitalmarktrecht 2085 ET. SEQ. (2nd ed. 2000). Current information on Eurex, including a link to information on its Chicago-based subsidiary, eurex US, is available at http://www.eurexchange.com/index.html.Google Scholar
23 As Pagano and von Thadden note, “The volume of trade on EUREX has increased almost tenfold between 1996 and mid-2001, from € 172.4 billion to € 1,639.1 billion …. In the process it killed off Bund futures trading on London's LIFFE. Also futures trading in French, Italian, and Spanish bonds dwindled into disappearance by 2001.” Marco Pagano & Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden, The European Bond Markets under EMU 16 (Working Paper, November 2004), Forthcoming in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy.Google Scholar
24 See Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 44.Google Scholar
25 Hackethal, Andreas & Schmidt, Reinhard H., Financing Patterns: Measurement Concepts and Empirical Results, Working Paper No. 33, Finance and Accounting Series, University of Frankfurt (2003), a revised version (WP 125) is available at http://www.wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de/schwerpunkte/accounting/index.php?men=4&lg=0&case=wp.Google Scholar
26 Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 46, also see p. 94.Google Scholar
27 Id., at 46.Google Scholar
28 Id.Google Scholar
29 “Intermediation ratios measure the proportion of sectors’ total financial assets and liabilities, respectively, that constitute claims on financial institutions (asset intermediation ratios) or liabilities vis-à-vis financial institutions (liability intermediation ratios)”, id. at 90-91.Google Scholar
30 “Securitization ratios take an instrumental perspective and measure the proportion of total claims and liabilities, respectively, that take the form of securities”, id. at 91.Google Scholar
31 Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 93-94.Google Scholar
32 Id., at 100-101.Google Scholar
33 Id., at 211-212.Google Scholar
34 Id., at 227.Google Scholar
35 See Law for Monitoring and Transparency in Business Undertakings (Gesetz zur Kontrolle und Transparenz im Unternehmensbereich).Google Scholar
36 See Law Concerning Registered Shares and to Facilitate the Exercise of Voting Rights (Gesetz zur Namensaktie und zur Erleichterung der Stimmrechtsausübung).Google Scholar
37 See Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 200-202.Google Scholar
38 See Barca, Fabrizio & Becht, Marco, The Control of Corporate Europe (2001).Google Scholar
39 See Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 227.Google Scholar
40 See Schmidt, Reinhard H. & Spindler, Gerald, Path dependence and complementarity in corporate governance, in: Convergence and Persistence in Corporate Governance, supra note 3, at 114.Google Scholar
41 See Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 395. For a similar finding of complementary between at least two of these elements, see also Roe, , Determinants supra note 7, at 81 (“Codetermination and block ownership are complementary, and it is hard for one to exit without the other also existing, irrespective of which one came first.”)Google Scholar
42 Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 396.Google Scholar
43 Id., at 397.Google Scholar
44 Id.Google Scholar
45 Id., at 403. The economic consideration that controlling shareholders may have to be compensated for monitoring activities has also been raised by thoughtful commentators with regard to U.S. corporate law. See Gilson, Ronald J. & Gordon, Jeffrey N., Controlling Controlling Shareholders, 152 U. Pa. L. Rev. 785 (2003).Google Scholar
46 See Bericht der Regierungskommission “Corporate Governance“ (Theodor Baums, ed. 2001).Google Scholar
47 See supra note 19.Google Scholar
48 Krahnen, & Schmidt, , supra note 14, at 406, emphasis added.Google Scholar
49 See id., at 389.Google Scholar
50 See id., at 498-513.Google Scholar
51 Id., at 512.Google Scholar
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