The Evolution of Associated Forms of Enterprises and the Genesis of the Share Institution

Abstract

The article expounds and summarizes the main economic and institutional factors and prerequisites for the formation of business enterprises in Europe in the X-XVIII centuries. The author shows that the later form of associated enterprises - joint stock company - had been preceded at an earlier stage of genesis by other forms of enterprises, each of which brought about its own innovations in the development of the share institution. The existence of limited liability corporations cannot be regarded as a sufficient condition for the transformation of the share into a financial instrument and for the formation of capital market. Some of these conditions may be the appearance of new motivational factors of using shares and corporations based on them and the formation of specialized infrastructure supplement.