The Economic Consequences of Organizational Law: Corporations, Partnerships, and Intermediate Forms in France, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S., 1800-2000

组织法的经济后果：法国、德国、英国和美国的公司、合伙企业和中间形式，1800-2000 年

• 批准号: 0720887
• 负责人: Timothy Guinnane
• 金额: $ 27.99万
• 依托单位: National Bureau of Economic Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0720887&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Economic; Consequences; Organizational; Law; Corporations

This collaborative, comparative project on the economic consequences of the law of business organizations concerns questions that are now central to debates in law, economics, and history, as well as in the policy arena: how to structure the internal governance and external regulation of business enterprises so as to encourage investment and minimize abuses; and how to promote the creation and growth of innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The SME plays a central role in this research because its importance has been overlooked in earlier work, and because the implications of organizational law can be especially acute for these firms. The project takes as its point of departure the trade-off that any entrepreneur faces in deciding how to organize a firm. One problem is untimely dissolution, or the chance that the firm will have to wind up business prematurely and thus potentially lose some longer-term investments in technologies and relationships with customers or suppliers. The other problem is that controlling investors might use their power to guide the firm in ways that do not maximizes its value. The corporation as a business entity minimizes the problem of untimely dissolution. But as recent problems of corporate governance illustrate, corporations are often vulnerable to abuse by insiders or by a small group of investors. This project uses the cases of France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom to study the way entrepreneurs have managed this trade-off in different and changing legal environments. The central empirical source for the research consists of samples of articles of association of firms, which contain information on the original investors and governance procedures. This material is supplemented with official sources such as the censuses of manufactures and tax data. A key legal innovation, the private limited-liability company, sheds light on the causes and impact of reforms that shaped the way firms could be created and governed.Broader impacts: This research has broader impacts for both scholarship and the policy world. The project will help demonstrate the value to law and economics scholars of comparative research based on primary source materials for firms. The general issue, as well as the specific findings concerning SMEs, go right to the heart of a problem facing many poor countries (as well as entities charged with helping poor countries, such as the World Bank). Development economists know that SMEs are crucial to the growth and development of poor economies. Often, however, the legal framework is hostile to the creation of new firms. By showing how the law helped or hindered the formation of new firms in what are now very wealthy countries, the research will help policy-makers advise poorer countries.

这个关于商业组织法的经济后果的合作、比较项目所涉及的问题现在是法律、经济和历史以及政策领域辩论的中心问题：如何构建商业企业的内部治理和外部监管，以鼓励投资和尽量减少滥用；以及如何促进创新型中小企业的创建和成长。中小企业在本研究中扮演着核心角色，因为它的重要性在早期的工作中被忽视了，而且因为组织法的影响对这些公司来说尤其尖锐。该项目以任何企业家在决定如何组织公司时面临的权衡为出发点。一个问题是不合时宜的解散，或者公司不得不过早结束业务的机会，从而可能失去一些在技术上的长期投资以及与客户或供应商的关系。另一个问题是，控股投资者可能会利用他们的权力来引导公司，而不是让公司的价值最大化。公司作为商业实体最大限度地减少了过早解散的问题。但正如最近的公司治理问题所表明的那样，公司往往容易受到内部人士或一小群投资者的滥用。本项目利用法国、德国、美国和英国的案例，研究企业家在不同和不断变化的法律环境中管理这种权衡的方式。本研究的中心经验来源包括公司章程样本，其中包含原始投资者和治理程序的信息。这些材料还补充了官方资料，如制造业人口普查和税收数据。私人有限责任公司是一项重要的法律创新，它揭示了改革的原因和影响，这些改革塑造了公司的创建和管理方式。更广泛的影响：这项研究对学术界和政策界都有更广泛的影响。该项目将有助于向法律和经济学学者展示基于公司原始资料的比较研究的价值。总的问题，以及关于中小企业的具体发现，直指许多贫穷国家（以及负责帮助贫穷国家的实体，如世界银行）面临的问题的核心。发展经济学家知道，中小企业对贫穷经济体的增长和发展至关重要。然而，法律框架往往不利于新公司的成立。通过展示法律如何帮助或阻碍现在非常富裕的国家成立新公司，这项研究将有助于政策制定者为较贫穷的国家提供建议。