Abstract
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.
Reference
David Le Bris, William Goetzmann, and Sébastien Pouget, “Convergent evolution towards the joint-stock company”, Business History, April 2025, pp. 1–26.
Published in
Business History, April 2025, pp. 1–26