My new article in the Economic History Review: I show that Belgian financial elites were far more involved in companies operating in King Leopold’s Congo Free State than in other Belgian firms, challenging the view that these elites had little interest in the Congo Free State.

Some historical evidence that is unfortunately relevant today: in a paper forthcoming in @businesshistory.bsky.social, Leentje Moortgat, Gertjan Verdickt and I find that the uncertainty created by war threat negatively affected entrepreneurship in Belgium before WW I. Link: doi.org/10.1080/0007...

Wel merkwaardig dat dit artikel in @standaard.be niet vermeldt dat Henri Le Boeuf de schoonzoon (en werknemer) van Albert Thys was, de drijvende kracht achter het grootste (en meest succesvolle) zakenimperium in de Congo Vrijstaat.

New publication with Luca Farè, Michele Meoli and Silvio Vismara, in which we investigate the relation between board size and IPO value before WW1 when investor protection was very weak. We find a substantial relation, especially for firms operating abroad. Open access. doi.org/10.1111/corg...

Artikel in Bank- en Financiewezen: financialforum.be/nl/bfw-digit...

Waren onder­ne­min­gen in de Con­go-Vrij­staat een goe­de beleg­ging? Kort antwoord: de meeste waren rampzalige beleggingen, maar met een paar grote uitzonderingen. Zie link naar artikel hieronder.

Companies are buying Bitcoin to pump up their stock price & fend off short-sellers. “The strategy … relies on bitcoin retaining its value. If it crashes, executives admit the fallout could be destabilising.” No shit Sherlock. on.ft.com/4hEAyv2

❗ Submission deadline ... ❗ ... to submit a paper to the ENTFIN's 2025 Annual Meeting at @rsmerasmus.bsky.social is approaching Please send your submissions by March 23, 2025 to [email protected] More info entfin.org

1898 issue of "Tramways Electriques de Gand" shares & bonds, one of the first electric tramways in Belgium. The original plan was to have trams with batteries because trams with overhead wires were considered too ugly by the city council, but the battery technology turned out not to be feasible.

“Polls have shown that principal investigator biologists now spend up to 40 percent of their time—it’s a shocking number, 40 percent of their time—writing grants.” marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

Walking around Antwerp I came across the former HQ of insurance company Securitas, which was the very first limited liability company in Belgium. Founded in 1819 when Belgium was part of The Netherlands. The current building dates from 1924. Now an apartment building.

V The Observer: ‘I cried, I cried. I had no one’: the brutal child kidnappings that shamed Belgian Congo.. This week five survivors hope a court will censure Belgium for crimes against humanity www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

More than 800 Belgian communities issued their own currency during WW1, “payable by the community after the war”, because the national bank was not allowed by the German occupiers to issue francs. (h/t Raphaël Melki)