The origins of the European joint-stock Corporation Is Centuries Older than We Thought‌‌

Recommendable!

"... “We propose a counterexample,” ... in the new study ... They focus on several cases from medieval France and Italy, well before 1600, in which organizations akin to the modern joint-stock company emerged simultaneously in different geographies. “We argue for and show evidence that there is this long-term tradition, particularly in southern Europe, that allowed for the creation of perpetually lived corporations like the modern joint-stock company.”‌

The researchers identify organizations, from the mills of Toulouse in the 1100s to the financial institution Casa San Giorgio in Genoa in the 1400s, that held a form and function like today’s modern company. Importantly, they emerged not from legal institutions designed to support the mercantile class—as with the English East India Company and Dutch East India Company—but from inheritance law that, since Roman times, had been negotiating the division of illiquid assets.‌

Consider a lord who willed his castle to his children. After he died they could sell their shares for cash; they could manage the castle as a timeshare (an arrangement, Goetzmann notes, that long predates the Florida vacation rental); they could rent it out and share the revenue; or each could occupy a separate wing. Each option relies on the same principle: treating the castle—or any asset—as a partnership divided into distinct shares.‌

“And then in about 1100 or 1200, this idea was adopted for business purposes,” ...  “It’s not exactly clear how it made the leap, but there’s some evidence it went through mining companies in early medieval times.” This inheritance-type structure allowed for joint investment and ownership, a semi-egalitarian governance structure, and importantly, an institution that did not dissolve if a partner died. ... “this is a very nice feature for attracting capital.”‌ ..."

From the 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."

The Corporation Is Centuries Older than We Thought‌‌ | Yale Insights "The genesis of the joint-stock company is usually traced to the founding of the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company around 1600. New research co-authored by Prof. William Goetzmann says this origin story may be off by centuries.‌"

Convergent evolution towards the joint-stock company (I suspect this is the research article since a link in the article above is missing. No public access)