The most common corporate structure is the joint-stock company. Its formalisation in law in 1844, coupled with the limitation of shareholder liability act in 1855, considerably increased the ease and decreased the risk of forming companies.
This triggered a period of extremely effective capital creation. Before 1800, there had been little change in the proportion of the global population living in poverty. Since then, the number has reduced from 83% of the global population to under 10%.
The structure of the joint-stock company rarely deviates from the same model: A person who owns a quarter of the shares is entitled to a quarter of the profit and has a quarter of the votes capable of being cast at general meetings. This structure poses certain problems: