I don't really get that article, so any summary of the main thesis would be most appreciated, Michel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tom Crowl <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 8:19 PM Subject: A Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100 To: A fabulous article! More than merely a well-researched overview of the history of the corporation... but an essential perspective for understanding current trends and where they are going. A Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100<http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/06/08/a-brief-history-of-the-corporation-1600-to-2100/> by VENKAT on JUNE 8, 2011 *From the piece*: * It will be the dawn of the age of Coasean growth. Adam Smith’s fundamental ideas helped explain the mechanics of Mercantile economics and the colonization of space. Joseph Schumpeter’s ides helped extend Smith’s ideas to cover Industrial economics and the colonization of time. Ronald Coase turned 100 in 2010. He is best known for his work on transaction costs, social costs and the nature of the firm. Where most classical economists have nothing much to say about the corporate form, for Coase, it has been the main focus of his life. Without realizing it, the hundreds of entrepreneurs, startup-studios and incubators, 4-hour-work-weekers and lifestyle designers around the world, experimenting with novel business structures and the attention mining technologies of social media, are collectively triggering the age of Coasean growth. * *And I'd add for consideration:* It's just possible that facilitating and unburdening the peer-to-peer micro-transaction (especially in certain areas) and its networking is an essential element for what is so aptly described here as Cosean growth? Particularly under some form of 'user-owned' utility rather than either a typical corporate or governmental structure. *Tom Crowl* (818) 363-0775 http://CulturalEngineer.blogspot.com -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens