Corporate finance and its alternatives in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. The case of Central Europe with special reference to the Czech Republic
Abstract
The opening lecture of the international conference (Entrepreneur vs Capital - Capital versus Entrepreneur), whose professional content was provided by the Institute of Economic a social History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, presented a professional discourse expressed by the equation "capital versus entrepreneur - entrepreneur versus capital". The issue was temporally defined by the revolutionary years 1848-1945, territorially by Central Europe.
The authors summarised and argued that big business was unthinkable without the broad, multi-layered intermediary involvement of monetary institutions that - historically speaking - characterised the region. An unequal relationship prevailed between the financial institutions and the large firms they financed, with an unhealthy, very strong influence of the capital sector of the economy.
The interpretation was based on an analysis of the relationship between individual firms and banks, or other monetary institutions and groups, but also of the systemic, macroeconomic effects.