The value of joint stock enterprises: a little history

It is in seventeenth-century Europe that the earliest shares were issued and traded, and the first stock exchange was founded in Amsterdam. These shares were in the Vereinigte Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, the Dutch East India Company). The oldest VOC share still in existence (and only discovered in 2010) was issued on 9 September 1606 (see Figure 2.1). The second page records the payments of dividends.

Image

Figure 2.1 World’s oldest surviving share certificate

Source: Westfries Archief, Hoorn

The opening of commercial routes to the East saw a huge surge in trading, with groups of merchants pooling ...

Get Get Started in Shares now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.