Th ere are a multitude of corporate structures and terminologies used in capitalist economies. For purposes of this discussion we will focus on publicly listed corporations (or fi rms) typical of those traded on stock markets. Th ese are defi ned as consisting of shareholders, directors representing shareholder inter- ests, executives reporting to the directors, and employees managed by the execu- tives ( Jensen and Mecklin 1976). Execu- tives are employees with power over the corporation’s assets. Th is paper was prepared largely before the advent of the global fi nancial crisis of late 2008. Data considered is based on.
