The peerless Izabella Kaminska (@izakaminska) of the FT linked this morning to this Andy Haldane speech, which I’d only skimmed when he made it. The speech discusses the consequences for corporate governance of the way the limited liability corporation has evolved, giving primacy to a narrow view of shareholder value. It cites en passant some terrific books both recent – Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig in [amazon_link id=”0691162387″ target=”_blank” ]The Bankers’ New Clothes[/amazon_link], Colin Mayer’s [amazon_link id=”0198714807″ target=”_blank” ]Firm Commitment[/amazon_link] – and less recent – Berle and Means’ [amazon_link id=”0887388876″ target=”_blank” ]The Modern Corporation and Private Property[/amazon_link] and Schumpeter’s [amazon_link id=”B00DQHN0MY” target=”_blank” ]Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy[/amazon_link].

The speech looks at the historical context of the emergence of limited liability, especially in banking. The need to which it responded was of course the increased capital requirements of the time, the Industrial Revolution getting well under way. With either partnerships of unlimited liability, banks in particular were unable to respond to crises by raising new capital. (Not that it proved straightforward in 2008-9 even with limited liability.) The speech ends with a discussion of potential corporate governance reforms, including clawing back bonuses, and modifying company law to reflect wider stakeholder interests, in addition to shareholders’ interests.

The history made me ponder, however, whether the limited liability public company largely ought to go the way of the megalosaurus? Already the growth of private equity suggests there are other financing channels chipping away at the monoculture. Perhaps when legislators ever get around to doing something, one of the corporate governance reforms needed is to reduce the role of limited liability public companies in the economy.

Meanwhile, I’m reading John Kay’s latest, [amazon_link id=”B00UJD8AS2″ target=”_blank” ]Other People’s Money[/amazon_link], an excellent read which follows up on his short-termism review, to which the Andy Haldane speech refers. A review to follow.

[amazon_image id=”B00UJD8AS2″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Other People’s Money: Masters of the Universe or Servants of the People?[/amazon_image]