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dc.contributor.authorDeakin, Simon
dc.contributor.authorGindis, David
dc.contributor.authorHodgson, Geoffrey
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-03T14:45:02Z
dc.date.available2021-06-03T14:45:02Z
dc.date.issued2021-10-19
dc.identifier.citationDeakin , S , Gindis , D & Hodgson , G 2021 , ' What is a Firm? A Reply to Jean-Philippe Robé ' , Journal of Institutional Economics , vol. 17 , no. 5 , pp. 861-871 . https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137421000369
dc.identifier.issn1744-1374
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2299/24551
dc.description© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Millennium Economics Ltd. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137421000369
dc.description.abstractIn his recent book on 'Property, Power and Politics', Jean-Philippe Robé makes a strong case for the need to understand the legal foundations of modern capitalism. He also insists that it is important to distinguish between firms and corporations. We agree. But Robé criticizes our definition of firms in terms of legally recognized capacities on the grounds that it does not take the distinction seriously enough. He argues that firms are not legally recognized as such, as the law only knows corporations. This argument, which is capable of different interpretations, leads to the bizarre result that corporations are not firms. Using etymological and other evidence, we show that firms are treated as legally constituted business entities in both common parlance and legal discourse. The way the law defines firms and corporations, while the product of a discourse which is in many ways distinct from everyday language, has such profound implications for the way firms operate in practice that no institutional theory of the firm worthy of the name can afford to ignore it.en
dc.format.extent11
dc.format.extent256414
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Institutional Economics
dc.subjectBusiness corporations
dc.subjectfirms
dc.subjectlegal institutionalism
dc.subjectlegal personality
dc.subjecttheory of the firm
dc.subjectEconomics, Econometrics and Finance(all)
dc.titleWhat is a Firm? A Reply to Jean-Philippe Robéen
dc.contributor.institutionOrganisation, Markets and Policy Research Group
dc.contributor.institutionHertfordshire Business School
dc.description.statusPeer reviewed
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107462938&partnerID=8YFLogxK
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1017/S1744137421000369
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
herts.preservation.rarelyaccessedtrue


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