A public company, publicly traded company, publicly held company, publicly listed company, or public corporation is a corporation whose ownership is dispersed among the general public in many shares of stock which are freely traded on a stock exchange or in over the counter markets. In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. A public company can be listed (listed company) or unlisted (unlisted public company).

In the early modern period, the Dutch developed several financial instruments and helped lay the foundations of modern financial system. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) became the first company in history to issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company, because it was the first company to be ever actually listed on an official stock exchange. While the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they did not develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market: corporate shareholders. As Edward Stringham (2015) notes, "companies with transferable shares date back to classical Rome, but these were usually not enduring endeavors and no considerable secondary market existed (Neal, 1997, p. 61)."

Answer the following questions:
1. Who helped form the modern financial system?
2. When?
3. Who was the first company to issue bonds to the public?
4. Were they also the first publicly traded company?
5. What is a name for a corporation whose ownership is spread out among the public?
6. Any other names?
7. Such as?
8. Where are the shares of stock traded?
9. Anywhere else?
10. Are some public companies required to be listed on a stock exchange?
11. What is a company called that is listed?
12. What about a company that is not listed?
13. Who created the first transferable government bonds?
14. Did they also create the necessary elements of a complete capital market?
1. the Dutch
2. early modern period
3. The Dutch East India Company
4. Yes
5. public corporation
6. Yes
7. publicly held company
8. stock exchange
9. over the counter market
10. Yes
11. listed company
12. unlisted public company
13. Italian city-states
14. No