The History of Corporate Finance ― Development of Anglo-American Securities Markets, Financial Practices, Theories and Laws

Scholars and students of economics will find this six-volume collection of original documents reproduced in facsimile to be a valuable research tool. Wright (Stern School of Business, New York University) provides a lengthy introduction to the set which describes each document within a larger overview of the historical and theoretical development of corporate finance in the UK and the US from the late 17th through the early 20th centuries. Each volume is devoted to a single topic; respectively, the development of securities markets, public policy, limited liability, corporate finance in practice, and corporate finance in theory (vols.5 and 6). Four texts were selected for volume one: South Sea Company...Her Majesty's Commission, from 1711; the 1796 and 18 50 editions of Thomas Fortune's Epitome of stocks & public funds; and A short inquiry into the profitable nature of our investments, of 1881, by Robert Lucas Nash, in which the suggestion is made that a diverse portfolio is lower in risk. The works selected on theory are The theory of business for busy men, by John Laing; Arthur Crump's The theory of stock exchange speculation; Arthur Ellis' The rationale of market fluctuations; Corporation finance; a study, by Thomas L. Greene; and an excerpt of Alfred Marshall's Industry and trade; a study of industrial technique and business organization. The collection is fully indexed and Wright's introduction includes a lengthy bibliography. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)