One of the hallmarks of the modern corporation is the separation of ownership from control. The firm is owned by shareholders but led by managers, who answer to shareholders only indirectly. Actually, it’s weirder than that. The corporation owns itself. Shareholders merely own stock , which is a claim on the firm’s assets and earnings.

Elements of this arrangement have been around for centuries. Scholars have detected traces of early “joint-stock” companies in tenth-century China. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company conducted the first initial public offering in history, floating its shares on the newly created Amsterdam stock exchange.…