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THE BUSINESS of POWER Canadian Multinationals in the Postwar Era

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THE BUSINESS of POWER Canadian Multinationals in the Postwar Era THE BUSINESS OF POWER Canadian Multinationals in the Postwar Era JORDAN BRENNAN A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Political Science York University, Toronto, Ontario August 2014 © Jordan Brennan, 2014 ABSTRACT The modern corporation is the dominant institution of the Canadian political economy. Does this imply that ‘corporate power’ is a meaningful concept in the Canadian context? What role has globalization played in restructuring the corporate sector? Are large firms controlled by salary-oriented managers or profit-seeking proprietors? Do mergers and acquisitions fuel the expansion of large firms? Why has Canada experienced slower GDP growth in recent decades? And how can we account for the level and pattern of Canadian income inequality? These and other questions are probed in this dissertation using tools from a variety of heterodox political-economic perspectives, including Nitzan and Bichler’s ‘capital as power’ framework, Institutionalism and Post Keynesianism. The reader will be introduced to some of the assumptions, concepts and theoretical claims that steer the research. The history of Canadian business will be reinterpreted and scholarship on the modern corporation surveyed. This will set the stage for an examination of large firms, or ‘dominant capital’, in Canada over the postwar period. This study provides the first long-term estimates for aggregate concentration and for corporate amalgamation. It devises metrics to capture the distributive struggle between capital and labour and for the globalization of merger activity. The structure of corporate ownership is laid bare, linkages between amalgamation and concentration are established and the association between the growth of large firms and GDP stagnation is charted. The dissertation closes by establishing points of contact between the amassment of corporate power and income inequality. ii To my loving parents, Chris and Wayne, for their inexhaustible support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The bulk of this dissertation was written in the first seven months of 2013. However, the journey for which it serves as a destination began much earlier and there are many people who served as travel companions. I would like to thank Professor Richard Day and Professor Ato Sekyi-Otu for mentoring me through the transition from undergraduate to graduate school. Professor Stephen Newman graciously supervised my M.A. research and, for me, serves as a testimonial to the triumph of common sense over ideology. Judy Matadial, Angela Swartz and Marlene Quesenberry of the Political Science Department were always on hand to make the administrative aspects of graduate student life less cumbersome. Xuemei Li and Elizabeth Watson of the Bronfman Business Library and the numerous professionals at Statistics Canada and Wharton Research Data Services cheerfully endured my endless appetite for data. My experience at York University was enriched through encounters with enthusiastic fellow graduate students. Jonathan Blair, Rachel Magnusson and Devin Penner were early colleagues, perpetual supporters and now dear friends. Joseph Baines, D.T. Cochrane, Sandy Hager, Jongchul Kim, Daniel Moure, James McMahon and Sean Starrs — the capital as power crew — have been formidable interlocutors, engaging collaborators, and with any luck, future allies. My understanding of political and philosophical matters was deepened through conversations with Karl Dahlquist, Eric George, Chris Holman, Baris Karaagac and Paul Mazzocchi. Stefanos Kourkoulakos took me on a guided tour through the House of Philosophy that Plato and Aristotle built. His devotion, scholarly rigour and intellectual prowess never cease to impress me. iv Although my time working for Unifor has been brief, I have already benefitted from the practical and theoretical wisdom of Jim Stanford. Jim provided valuable commentary on some of the research that appears in this dissertation and has worked to provide numerous forums for me to disseminate it. At Jim’s behest, Unifor’s leadership granted me some time to complete a draft of the dissertation. For this and much more I am very grateful. Professor Michael Veall also deserves thanks for amiably sharing his meticulous research on the top income share and for acting as a postdoctoral referee. I am very grateful to have had a fruitful relationship with Professor Jonathan Nitzan. Jonathan’s engaging teaching style and powerful research proved irresistible in my early years in the PhD program. The scope of his intellectual interests in tandem with his passion and exactitude was a perpetual source of inspiration. He volunteered more hours to my intellectual and academic development than I care to count and, the disintegration of our personal and academic relationship notwithstanding, he has my sincere thanks for his advisory efforts. My dissertation advisory committee has been of tremendous assistance as I compiled my research, organized my ideas and transferred them to paper. Professor Bruce Smardons’ deep understanding of Canadian political economy, manifested in both his teaching and his scholarship, proved useful as I tried to understand the historical backdrop to my subject. Professor Andrew Jackson stepped in when my advisory committee shrank, offered numerous recommendations which helped clarify my argument and skillfully shepherded me through the final stages of the dissertation. My supervisor, Professor Mark Peacock, has an unremitting attention to detail, an extraordinary command of the English language and, perhaps without knowing it, has v served as a wonderful example of scholarly professionalism. I am very grateful for the speed and care with which my committee orchestrated my defence. My siblings, Jill and Ryan, as well as close friends, Josh Greenberg, Omar Hayani, Peter McKenzie and Adrienne Weinstock, inquired, listened and supported me throughout my graduate studies. So, too, did my newly adopted family, Adilia, Carlos and John-Paul Sousa. My appreciation for their reassurance and their kindness extends farther than they know. My parents, Chris and Wayne, acted as sounding boards, social workers and sources of boundless encouragement. Early expectations about postsecondary attendance (which were quite unfounded, given my academic performance at the time), mentorship throughout my academic career, and most importantly, the provision of a living example of how to balance hard work with familial commitment helped craft an ideal to live up to. I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Isabel Sousa, my partner, provided intellectual and emotional sustenance when it was most needed, helped me see the sunlight when I was overcome by my own shadow and has been the personification of selflessness. Without the efforts of Isabel and my parents this dissertation would not have been completed. That which is true or valuable in the pages to follow is partially attributable to those named above. Only the errors, inconsistences and omissions are exclusively mine. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv List of Illustrations: Diagrams xi List of Illustrations: Tables xii List of Illustrations: Figures xiii Preface xvi 1. Introduction: Problematizing Canada’s Fiscal Fiefdoms 1 1.1 The Questions 4 1.2 The Argument 8 1.3 The Roadmap 16 PART I Conceptual and Historical Foundations 2. Theory and Method: A Power Approach to Political Economy 22 2.1 Capital as a Gateway to Political Economy 25 2.2 Veblen on Neoclassical Capital 26 2.3 Veblen’s Conception of Capital 29 2.4 The Business Regime and Modern Political Economy 39 2.5 The Conceptual Infrastructure of Capital as Power 41 2.6 Capital and Institutional Power 46 2.7 Regimes of Differential Accumulation 49 3. From Contact through Confederation to Continental Integration: A Brief History of Canadian Business 52 3.1 Worlds Collide 55 3.2 Corporate Activity and the Birth of a Colony 57 3.3 From Agricultural Colony to Commercial State 62 3.4 The Emergence of Dominant Capital 67 3.5 The Experiment with a Welfare State 72 3.6 Neoliberal Globalization: Restoring the Corporate State 78 vii 4. The Political Economy of the Modern Corporation: Surveying the Literature 86 4.1 Perspectives on Canadian Political Economy 87 4.2 The Modern Corporation as an Object of Inquiry 97 4.3 Corporate Power in Canada 107 4.4 What are the Questions? 117 PART II Mapping the Growth of Large Firms 5. Maple Leaf Multinationals: A Profile of Dominant Capital 119 5.1 The Canadian Equity Market 121 5.2 Survival and Longevity amongst Large Firms 126 5.3 Measuring Corporate Power 131 5.4 Corporate Profitability in North America 137 5.5 Aggregate Concentration 140 5.6 From Aggregate Concentration to Differential Accumulation 146 5.7 Who Owned and Who Controlled Dominant Capital in the Past? 154 5.8 Who Owns and Who Controls Dominant Capital in the Present? 161 5.9 Canadian Capital in Global Context 169 5.10 Summary 180 6. Mergers and Acquisitions: The Market-Destroying Enhancement of Market Power 182 6.1 External Breadth: Green-Field Investment 184 6.2 Internal Breadth: Mergers and Acquisitions 191 6.3 Amalgamation: A Black Box in Political Economy? 198 6.4 Amalgamation and Power 205 6.5 Is Corporate Canada Being ‘Hollowed Out’? 221 6.6 Transnational Canadian Corporate Ownership 230 6.7 Summary 238 7. From Robust Growth to Stagnant Growth 240 7.1 Mapping the History of Growth and Stagnation in Canada 243 7.2 Some Long-Term Drivers of Growth 246 7.3 Containing Creativity: Large Firms and Stagnation 251 viii 7.4 Is Stagnation Good for Business? 255 7.5 Corporate Concentration and Stagnation 258 7.6 The Corporate Income Tax Regime and Stagnation 266 7.7 Summary 269 PART III Understanding the Distribution of Income 8. Conceptualizing the Distribution of Income 272 8.1 A Snapshot of Income Inequality in Canada 274 8.2 Why Income Inequality Matters 278 8.3 Understanding the Distribution of Income 285 8.4 Institutional Power and Distribution 292 8.5 An Aristotelian Interlude 295 8.6 Summary 302 9.
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