As articulated by Adam Smith, one of the central issues facing companies is that managers will not run the business in the interests of its owners and will misuse resources. This ultimately has a detrimental consequence for the wealth of the nation. This survey reviews the nature and evolution of the corporate governance of UK public companies over the past 300 years. It makes two principal arguments. First, because the separation of ownership and control was one of the rationales for the introduction of the corporate form, we should not be surprised that corporate ownership has generally been diffuse. Second, over time, the way in which owners ensure that managers act in their interests has gradually changed from a system in which shareholders monitored and exercised voice to one where there was more reliance on external forces and exiting ownership.

中文翻译：

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英国三个世纪的公司治理

正如亚当·斯密所阐述的，公司面临的核心问题之一是管理者不会为了所有者的利益而经营企业，并且会滥用资源。这最终会对国家财富产生不利后果。这项调查回顾了过去 300 年来英国上市公司公司治理的性质和演变。它提出了两个主要论点。首先，由于所有权和控制权的分离是引入公司形式的理由之一，因此公司所有权普遍分散也就不足为奇了。其次，随着时间的推移，所有者确保管理者按照自己的利益行事的方式逐渐从股东监督和行使话语权的制度转变为更加依赖外部力量和退出所有权的制度。