What do shareholders 'own'

Date

2/3/2016 11:06:33 PM

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Lincoln Center

Today the US prohibits the right to make such combination. But who knowsif Mr. Trump is elected (though at present the betting markets do not suggest that outcome) he would legalize betting in the US and put his name above another Manhattan complex the permanently financially stressed Lincoln Center. Just as movie theaters would not be financially viable without soft drinks and popcorn neither can opera houses be viable without having the rights to have Monte-Carlo-type casinos attached. I am not holding my breath. But this is another example how looking at institutions private or public in terms of what rights they have paves ways to finding solutions to their sustainable financing.

Trump

Last but not least looking at corporations from the perspective of corporations being a bundle of contracts and 'ownership' referring to bundle of rights gives the proper angle to reconsider what it means to 'tax' corporationsindeed you cannot tax 'myths' – implying that legal entities upon which taxes are imposed have nothing to do with who is paying that tax. This topic too is for another occasion.

Reuven Brenner holds the Repap Chair at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. The article draws on his last books Force of Finance and World of Chance.

The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Asia Times.

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