PUBPOL 3340 - [Corporations, Shareholders, and Policy]

(SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Spring. Not offered: 2024-2025. Next offered: 2025-2026. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: PUBPOL 2000 and PUBPOL 2101, or equivalents. Not open to: first-year students. Co-meets with PUBPOL 5334.

R. Geddes.

Uses economic analysis to study the interaction of the market, the corporation, and the law and how these interactions affect the well-being of shareholders and consumers. Examines the costs and benefits of the corporate form of organization. The legal institutions defining the corporation, such as limited liability and shareholder voting, are analyzed along with regulations governing these institutions. A particular focus is mechanisms that control the behavior of managers. Those mechanisms include hostile takeovers, insider trading, outside directors on the board, the role of large investors, and executive compensation plans. Additional topics include government ownership of corporations and nonprofit enterprises.

Outcome 1: Students will leave this course with a deeper understanding of what a publicly traded corporation is, how it is organized, why it exists, its benefits and costs to society, how it is governed, controlled, and regulated, and its broader role in society.

Outcome 2: The course will refine the student’s knowledge of the structure and effect of the law and policy surrounding the public corporation.

Outcome 3: Students will be better equipped to understand policy controversies surrounding the corporation.

Outcome 4: The course will students an improved appreciation for the role and importance of alternative organizational forms, including private partnerships, mutuals, and non-profit enterprises.