... closely held corporations occurred over a much longer period in the US, with some becoming closely held corporations in the 30's, and others only going corporate as part of the process of becoming a publicly traded corporation. So some of the partnerships were partnerships de jure, and others were corporations in which "becoming a partner" meant receiving a piece of the partnership pool of shares that was the controlling interest in the closely held corporation.

It was the conversion to publicly traded corporations that struck in a wave starting after 1980 and ending at the same time as the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Of course, the incestuousness of the primary institutions engaged in managing new issues into the capital markets being controlled by shares bought and sold in the same capital markets was remarked upon, but nobody in a position of power made a big issue of it.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.