When did ownership separate from control? Corporate governance in the early nineteenth century

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wellesley College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050708000600
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 645-685
• 关键词: stock ownership; one share; one vote; new-york; MARKET; LAW; pennsylvania; industry; rules; WORLD

摘要

This article analyzes the ownership structures and governance institutions of New York's corporations in the 1820s, using a new dataset collected from the records of the state's 1823 capital tax, and from the corporate charters. In contrast to Berle and Means's account of the development of the corporation, the results indicate that many firms were dominated by large shareholders, who were represented on the firms' boards, and held sweeping power to utilize the firms' resources for their own benefit. To address this problem, many firms configured their voting rights in a way that curtailed the power of large investors.