Adam Smith's Analysis of Joint-Stock Companies
从实证经济学角度为亚当·斯密的企业理论辩护，指出他对股份公司的评价基于历史存活率证据，并解释了代理成本的作用，同时认为东印度公司是政府造成的异常形式。
We defend Adam Smith's theory of the firm from the standpoint of positive economics. We argue that his evaluation of the joint-stock firm was not moralistic but instead based on available empirical evidence. The record showed that joint-stock companies had a poor survivorship record, even when granted legal monopoly status. His analysis contained an explanation of the role of agency costs within the firm. Finally, he did not discuss the East India Company as an ordinary joint-stock firm but rather as an aberrant form created by government.