Bank on steel? Joint-stock banks and the rationalization of the British interwar steel industry

holmes, s. simon; ploeckl, florian;

This study investigates theimpact of joint-stock bank son the rationalization of the British interwar steel industry. A new panel data set of steel firm characteristics covering 1920�1938 is used to document rationalization and bank involvement, including interlocking directorships, with both found to bemore extensive than previously thought. A set of all potential amalgamation pairs is created and used in a logit analysis of the determinants ofmergers. Bank involvement
with firms increased the probability that a particular merger occurred. Further more,mergers with bank involvement differed in their impact on profitability from those without.