Corporation

(1) In the Middle Ages a widespread form of organization of artisans and merchants (guilds). The Great French Revolution abolished guild corporations, whose monopoly position had hampered the development of the productive forces of capitalist society.
(2) An aggregate of individuals united for the achievement of some goal and forming an independent subject under the law (a juridical person).
The term “corporation” is most common in Anglo-American law. In the USA public corporations are accorded the rights of a juridical person (municipalities, for example, are considered public corporations), as are corporations of lawyers and so on. Private corporations in the USA correspond to joint-stock companies in the countries of Western Europe.
As a form of monopolistic joint-stock association, the corporation has become widespread in the USA as a result of the concentration and centralization of capital. The first corporations sprang up in railroad construction in the middle of the 19th century. By the early 20th century the corporation had become the main form of capitalist enterprise. Under contemporary conditions, corporations hold the key position in all sectors of the US economy: 98 percent of all income in manufacturing, 93 percent of the income in transportation and communication, and 76 percent of the income in domestic commerce. In 1968 the USA had 1,542,000 corporations with total assets of $2,216,-000,000,000, accounting for 83 percent of the income and 67 percent of the profits of all the enterprises of the country. The net profits of corporations reached $86,000,000,000 in 1968, double the 1960 level.
Category:Economy
Category:Economics