History of the Stock Company
500 Years of Pathology and War
The stock company is a system of financing and production. Since its emergence, it has exerted enormous power and contributed to the development of civilization and economic growth against the background of the Industrial Revolution.
However, the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 showed that the economic system that supports our world is not so solid or stable.
It also revealed that the system is ambivalent, sometimes contributing improving of people's lives but at other times causing significant sickness.
This book does not simply give textbook knowledge of the stock company but describes its "power" and "pathology" with a vivid picture of the moment it was born.
Can the stock company, the driving force of modernity, continue to play a central role as the driving force of economic development in the future? Is there an alternative to the stock company? The author examines these questions as well.
This book is a 500-year history of the "stock company," which is the engine of capitalism and has an inseparable relationship with the state. This book was only possible because the author is a former venture capitalist active in Silicon Valley.
Overview
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Stock Company, an Illusory Community
Part I. A 500-year History of the Stock Company
Chapter 1: The Age of the Merchant of Venice
Chapter 2: Establishment of the East India Company
Chapter 3: The Invention of Double-Entry Bookkeeping
Chapter 4: "The Wealth of Nations" and the Birth of the United States of America
Chapter 5: The Reviving Power of the Stock Company
Part II. Principles and Pathology of Stock Companies - Corporate Philosophy
Chapter 6: The Economic Man
Chapter 7: The Character of the Stock Company
Chapter 8: The Reasons Why They Loved the Corporation
Chapter 9: Illusion Created by Desire
Chapter 10: The Stock Company as an Illusory Community and Individual Desires
Chapter 11: Technological Innovation and the "Origin of Life"
Chapter 12 Individual Ethics and National Ethics
Final Chapter: Where are Stock Companies Going?
Author Profile
Katsumi Hirakawa is a writer, entrepreneur, visiting professor at Rikkyo University, and owner of "Tonomachi Café."
Born in 1950 in Ota-ku, Tokyo. He graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University in 1975. In the same year, he founded Urban Translation, a translation company, with Tatsuru Uchida and others.
In 1999 he participated in the establishment of Business Cafe, Inc. in Silicon Valley. Later, he established Linux Cafe in Akihabara.
In 2014 he opened a coffee shop, Tonomachi Café, in Ebara-Nakanobu, Tokyo.
He is the author of "Transitional Confusion" (Chikuma Shobo), "Recommendation of Small Business" (Mishimasha), "The Disease of the Corporation" (NTT Publishing), " A Man Similar to Me" (Igaku Shoin), and "The Disease of Globalism" (Toyo Keizai Inc.).
（Information is current at the time of publishing.）
