Law Commons^™

The Essential Unity Of Shareholders And The Myth Of Investor Short-Termism, George W. Dent

Faculty Publications

The separation of ownership and control publicized by Berle and Means in 1932 persists today. Domination of public companies by self-serving and ineffective executives costs America billions of dollars every year and contributed to the current economic meltdown. Repeated efforts to solve this problem--including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, expanded disclosure duties, and more stringent requirements for director independence--have had little benefit and have sometimes made matters worse. The flaws in our corporate governance system are a growing problem for America’s economy as disillusioned investors increasingly place their capital in other countries.

Nonetheless, proposals for greater shareholder power have encountered criticisms: various …