Shleifer and Vishny (1997) elaborate on this point and suggest that the benefits from concentrated ownership are relatively larger in countries that are generally less developed, where property rights are not well defined and/or protected by judicial systems. To test this proposition, La Porta, Lopez-De- Silanes, and Shleifer (1999a) investigate the ownership concentration by the three largest shareholders of the largest corporations in countries around the world and find that weak legal and institutional environments (laws and enforcement) are associated with the highly concentrated share ownership of listed companies. The private enforcement of property rights is a probable reason for the concentrated ownership of East Asian corporations, which often.
