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Is Berle and Means Really a Myth?

2009; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 83; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0007680500002968

2044-768X

Brian R. Cheffins, Steven A. Bank,

Corporate Governance and Law

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.