Is Berle and Means Really a Myth?

• Published in: Business history review Vol. 83; no. 3; pp. 443 - 474
• Main Authors: Cheffins, Brian, Bank, Steven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 2009; Harvard Business School
• Subjects: 20th century; Authority; Bank ownership; Bank stocks; Berle, Adolf; Board of directors; Boards of directors; Business history; Business ownership; Business structures; Capitalism; Corporate governance; Corporate regulation; Corporations; Economic history; Executives; History of economic thought; Means, Gardiner; New stock market listings; Ownership; Public companies; Public enterprises; Railroads; Securities markets; Shareholder voting; Shareholders; Stock exchanges; Stockholders; Studies; Subsidiary companies; Voting rights; United States > US
• ISSN: 0007-6805; 2044-768X
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007680500002968

Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means famously declared in 1932 that a separation of ownership and control was a hallmark of large U.S. corporations, and their characterization of matters quickly became received wisdom. A series of recent papers has called the Berle–Means orthodoxy into question. This survey of the relevant historical literature acknowledges that the pattern of ownership and control in U.S. public companies is not monolithic. Nevertheless, a separation between ownership and control remains an appropriate reference point for analysis of U.S. corporate governance.