2025/04/15 by David Le Bris, William N. Goetzmann, Sébastien Pouget · 1 voice
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Corporate Finance and Governance #Corporate Governance and Law #Economic Theory and Institutions
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00076791.2025.2478880
openalex publication_date 2025/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
The origin of the modern joint-stock company is typically traced to the concomitant appearance of large-scale maritime trading companies in England and the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century. Highlighting medieval cases in southern Europe, we claim that the joint-stock company emerged earlier in history. These prior appearances support the theory of convergent evolution towards the joint-stock company. We document alternative and largely independent developmental paths that suggest the joint-stock company can emerge in a variety of legal, political and socioeconomic contexts. This evidence has implications for identifying the necessary background underlying the emergence of the joint-stock company, and for the debate regarding the link between business institutions and economic growth.