Skip to main content
Log in

Shareholders' choice

  • Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We address the question of which production decisions are reached via shareholder voting, if the firm's shareholders disagree. The median-voter approach is applied. Three dichotomies are explored: the one-man-one-vote versus the one-share-one-vote rule, naive versus sophisticated investors, before- versus after-trade voting. Novel asymptotic results are obtained.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Benninga, S., and Muller, E. (1979): “Majority Choice and the Objective Function of the Firm under Uncertainty.”Bell Journal of Economics 10: 670–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bester, H. (1982): “On Shareholder Unanimity in the Mean-Variance Model.”Economics Letters 10: 363–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, D. (1958):The Theory of Committees and Elections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Böhm, V. (1994): “The Foundations of the Theory of Monopolistic Competition Revisited.”Journal of Economic Theory 63: 208–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Marzo, P. M. (1993): “Majority Voting and Corporate Control: the Role of the Dominant Shareholder.”Review of Economic Studies 60: 713–734.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dierker, E., and Grodal, B. (1995): “Profit Maximization, Relative Prices, and the Maximization of Shareholders' Real Wealth.” Discussion Paper 95-07, Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1996a): “Profit Maximization Mitigates Competition.”Economic Theory 7: 139–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1996b): “The Price Normalization Problem in Imperfect Competition and the Objective of the Firm.” Discussion Paper 96-05, Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsythe, R., and Suchanek, G. L. (1984): “Collective Decision Mechanisms and Efficient Stock Market Allocations.”International Economic Review 25: 21–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabszewicz, J. J., and Vial, J. P. (1972): “Oligopoly ‘à la Cournot’ in a General Equilibrium Analysis.”Journal of Economic Theory 4: 381–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gevers, L. (1974): “Competitive Equilibrium of the Stock Exchange and Pareto Efficiency.” InAllocation under Uncertainty: Equilibrium and Optimality, edited by J. H. Drèze. London: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grodal, B. (1996): “Profit Maximization and Imperfect Competition.” InEconomics in a Changing World: Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress of the International Economic Association, Moscow, vol. 2,Microeconomics, edited by B. Allen. New York and London: St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, S., and Hart, O. (1988): “One Share-One Vote and the Market for Corporate Control.”Journal of Financial Economics 20: 175–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, S. J., and Stiglitz, J. E. (1980): “Stockholder Unanimity in Making Productionand Financial Decisions.”Quarterly Journal of Economics 94: 543–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haller, H. (1986): “Market Power, Objectives of the Firm, and Objectives of Shareholders.”Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 142: 716–726.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1988): “Competition in a Stock Market with Small Firms.”Journal of Economics/Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie 48: 243–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1991): “Corporate Production and Shareholder Cooperation under Uncertainty.”International Economic Review 32: 823–842.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haller, H., and Liu, C. S. (1995): “Asymptotic Shareholder Unanimity with Exogenous Noise.”Economics Letters 47: 69–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, M., and Raviv, A. (1988): “Corporate Governance: Voting Rights and Majority Rules.”Journal of Financial Economics 20: 203–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O. D. (1979): “On Shareholder Unanimity in Large Stock Market Economies.”Econometrica 47: 1057–1083.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelsey, D., and Milne, F. (1996): “The Existence of Equilibrium in Incomplete Markets and the Objective Function of the Firm.”Journal of Mathematical Economics 25: 229–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kihlstrom, R., and Laffont, J.-J. (1982): “A Competitive Entrepreneurial Model of a Stock Market.” InThe Economics of Information and Uncertainty, edited by J. McCall. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laux, H. (1971): “Expected Utility Maximization and Capital Budgeting Subgoals.”Unternehmungsforschung 15: 130–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leland, H. W. (1974): “Production Theory and the Stock Market.”Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science 5: 125–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makowski, L. (1980): “Perfect Competition, the Profit Criterion, and the Organization of Economic Activity.”Journal of Economic Theory 22: 222–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1983): “Competitive Stock Markets.”Review of Economic Studies 50: 305–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, N. R. (1987): “Voting.” InThe New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, vol. 4, edited by J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman. London: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plott, C. R. (1967): “A Notion of Equilibrium and Its Possibility under Majority Rule.”American Economic Review 57: 787–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renstrom, T., and Yalcin, E. (1995): “Endogenous Firm Objective.” Draft, University of Birmingham, Birmingham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadanand, A. B., and Williamson, J. M. (1991): “Equilibrium in a Stock Market Economy with Shareholder Voting.”International Economic Review 32: 1–35.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Geraats, P.M.W.A., Haller, H.H. Shareholders' choice. Zeitschr. f. Nationalökonomie 68, 111–135 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01237187

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01237187

Keywords

Navigation