Reinier Kraakman

Harvard Law School

Ezra Ripley Thayer Professor of Law

1575 Massachusetts

Hauser 406

Cambridge, MA 02138

United States

European Corporate Governance Institute

Fellow

c/o ECARES ULB CP 114

B-1050 Brussels

Belgium

  • Harvard Law School

    • Email
    • Tel: 617-496-3586
    • Fax: 617-496-6118

  • European Corporate Governance Institute

SCHOLARLY PAPERS

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Scholarly Papers (34)

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1.

What is Corporate Law?

Yale Law & Economics Research Paper No. 300
Number of pages: 21 Posted: 27 Jul 2004 Last Revised: 26 Jan 2017
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 12,323 (267)
Citation 14

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legal personality, limited liability, transferable shares, delegated management, investor ownership, agency problems, default and mandatory rules, choice of law, share ownership

2.

The End of History for Corporate Law

Yale Law School Working Paper No. 235; NYU Working Paper No. 013; Harvard Law School Discussion Paper No. 280; Yale SOM Working Paper No. ICF - 00-09
Number of pages: 36 Posted: 10 Mar 2000
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 11,811 (289)
Citation 174

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3.

The Essential Elements of Corporate Law

Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20/2009, Yale Law, Economics & Public Policy Research Paper No. 387, Harvard Law and Economics Research Paper No. 643, Harvard Public Law Working Paper No. 09-39, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 134/2009
Number of pages: 37 Posted: 21 Jul 2009 Last Revised: 10 Dec 2018
John Armour, Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
University of Oxford - Faculty of Law, Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 11,222 (325)

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Corporation, agency problem, corporate law, corporate regulation, corporate governance, securities law, limited liability, regulatory competition, mandatory rules, comparative corporate law, evolution of corporate law

4.

Russian Privatization and Corporate Governance: What Went Wrong?

As published in Stanford Law Review, Vol. 52, pp. 1731-1808, 2000.
Number of pages: 79 Posted: 22 Sep 1999
Bernard S. Black, Reinier Kraakman and Anna Tarassova
Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Harvard Law School and University of Maryland - Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS)
Downloads 7,465 (708)
Citation 121

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5.

Agency Problems, Legal Strategies, and Enforcement

Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 21/2009, Yale Law, Economics & Public Policy Research Paper No. 388, Harvard Law and Economics Research Paper Series No. 644 , European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 135/2009
Number of pages: 23 Posted: 21 Jul 2009 Last Revised: 10 Dec 2018
John Armour, Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
University of Oxford - Faculty of Law, Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 6,284 (959)
Citation 6

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Agency, agency cost, agency problem, appointment rights, decision rights, control rights, regulation, corporate governance, equal treatment, trustee, mandatory disclosure, enforcement, private enforcement, public enforcement, gatekeeper control

6.

The Essential Role of Organizational Law

Downloads 4,512 ( 1,702)
Citation 62

The Essential Role of Organizational Law

NYU Law and Economics Working Paper No. 00-006; Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper 284; Yale ICF Working Paper No. 00-11
Number of pages: 47 Posted: 07 Jun 2000
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 4,512 (1,674)
Citation 62

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The Essential Role of Organizational Law

Yale Law Journal, Vol. 110, December 2000
Posted: 17 Aug 2001
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School

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Asset partitioning, legal entities, limited liability, property rights

7.

Stock Pyramids, Cross-Ownership, and Dual Class Equity: The Creation and Agency Costs of Separating Control from Cash Flow Rights

Concentrated Corporate Ownership, (R. Morck, ed.), pp. 295-315, 2000, Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 249
Number of pages: 29 Posted: 01 Feb 1999 Last Revised: 02 Oct 2009
Lucian A. Bebchuk, Reinier Kraakman and George G. Triantis
Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School and Stanford Law School
Downloads 4,388 (1,790)
Citation 178

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Pyramids, dual-class, cross-ownership, cash flow nights, votes, agency costs, corporate governance, law and finance

8.

Agency Problems and Legal Strategies

THE ANATOMY OF CORPORATE LAW: A COMPARATIVE AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACH, R. Kraakman, P. Davies, H. Hansmann, G. Hertig, K. Hopt, H. Kanda, and E. Rock, Oxford University Press, pp. 21-31, 2004
Number of pages: 13 Posted: 13 Dec 2004
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 4,070 (2,042)
Citation 6

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Agency, agency cost, agency problem, appointment rights, decision rights, control rights, regulation, corporate governance, equal treatment, trustee, mandatory disclosure

9.

Law and the Rise of the Firm

Downloads 3,808 ( 2,289)
Citation 34

Law and the Rise of the Firm

ECGI - Law Working Paper No. 57/2006, Yale Law & Economics Research Paper No. 326
Number of pages: 69 Posted: 03 Jan 2006
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law
Downloads 2,977 (3,433)
Citation 34

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Corporations, Partnerships, Companies, History of the Firm, Entity Shielding, Limited Liability, Legal Entities, Bankruptcy

Law and the Rise of the Firm

Harvard Law Review, Vol. 119, No. 5, pp. 1333-1403, March 2006, Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 546
Number of pages: 70 Posted: 31 Jul 2006
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law
Downloads 831 (26,702)
Citation 34

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Law and the Rise of the Firm

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship
Posted: 09 Nov 2009
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law

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Legal protection, Limited liability companies (LLC), Asset management, Firm ownership, Legal systems

10.

The Mechanisms of Market Efficiency Twenty Years Later: The Hindsight Bias

Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 240; Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 270; Harvard Law and Economics Disc. Paper No. 446
Number of pages: 48 Posted: 07 Nov 2003
Ronald J. Gilson and Reinier Kraakman
Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 3,265 (2,991)
Citation 26

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11.

A Self Enforcing Model of Corporate Law

As published in Harvard Law Review, vol. 109, pp. 1911-1982, 1996
Number of pages: 73 Posted: 05 Jul 1998
Reinier Kraakman and Bernard S. Black
Harvard Law School and Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law
Downloads 2,598 (4,413)
Citation 81

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12.

CEO Tenure, Performance and Turnover in S&P 500 Companies

ECGI - Finance Working Paper No. 191/2007, Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 595
Number of pages: 45 Posted: 22 Aug 2006 Last Revised: 22 Jan 2019
John C. Coates, IV and Reinier Kraakman
Harvard Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 2,542 (4,577)
Citation 4

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CEO tenure, CEO turnover, acquisitions, retirement, CEO shareholdings, S&P 500 companies

13.

Reflections on the End of History for Corporate Law

Convergence of Corporate Governance: Promise and Prospects, Abdul Rasheed and Toru Yoshikawa, eds., Palgrave-MacMillan, 2012, Yale Law & Economics Research Paper No. 449
Number of pages: 16 Posted: 28 Jun 2012 Last Revised: 31 Jul 2012
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 1,672 (9,309)
Citation 157

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corporate governance, convergence

14.

Foundations of Corporate Law

FGV Direito SP Research Paper Series No. 147, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 336/2017
Number of pages: 39 Posted: 26 Jan 2017 Last Revised: 06 Jun 2017
John Armour, Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Mariana Pargendler
University of Oxford - Faculty of Law, Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fundação Getulio Vargas Law School at São Paulo
Downloads 1,581 (10,171)
Citation 6

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Legal Personality; Limited Liability; Transferable Shares; Delegated Management; Investor Ownership; Agency Problems; Default and Mandatory Rules; Choice of Law; Share Ownership

15.

Delaware's Takeover Law: The Uncertain Search for Hidden Value

As published in Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 95, pp. 521-566, 2002
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 05 Feb 2002
Reinier Kraakman and Bernard S. Black
Harvard Law School and Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law
Downloads 1,577 (10,211)
Citation 5

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16.

Property, Contract, and Verification: The Numerus Clausus Problem and the Divisibility of Rights

Harvard Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 37; Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 388
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 30 Aug 2002
Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 1,466 (11,494)
Citation 19

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property, contract, property rights, contract rights, verification, notice, numerus clausus

17.

Market Efficiency after the Financial Crisis: It's Still a Matter of Information Costs

Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 458, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 242/2014, Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 470
Number of pages: 87 Posted: 17 Feb 2014 Last Revised: 12 Mar 2014
Ronald J. Gilson and Reinier Kraakman
Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 1,318 (13,631)
Citation 1

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efficient capital market hypothesis, financial crisis, subprime crisis, financial regulation

18.

Rewarding Outside Directors

Harvard Law & Economics Discussion Paper No. 578, ECGI - Law Working Paper No. 85/2007
Number of pages: 47 Posted: 24 Jan 2007
Assaf Hamdani and Reinier Kraakman
Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law and Harvard Law School
Downloads 1,157 (16,661)
Citation 3

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independent directors, liability, gatekeepers

19.

The New Business Entities in Evolutionary Perspective

Downloads 1,078 ( 18,515)
Citation 5

The New Business Entities in Evolutionary Perspective

Number of pages: 10 Posted: 16 Feb 2005
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law
Downloads 1,078 (18,172)
Citation 5

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Corporations, Partnerships, Organizations, History, Limited Liability Companies, Legal Entitites, Asset Partitioning

The New Business Entities in Evolutionary Perspective

European Business Organization Law Review, Vol. 8, 2007
Posted: 16 May 2007
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law

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corporations; partnerships; organizations; history; limited liability companies; legal entities; asset partitioning

20.

The Basic Governance Structure: The Interests of Shareholders as a Class

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 337/2017, Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11/2017
Number of pages: 40 Posted: 26 Jan 2017 Last Revised: 14 Mar 2017
John Armour, Luca Enriques, Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman
University of Oxford - Faculty of Law, University of Oxford Faculty of Law, Yale University - Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 1,001 (20,704)

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Shareholder-Management Conflict; One-Tier and Two-Tier Boards; Director Appointment; Directors Removal; Decision Rights; Shareholder Coordination; Independent Directors; Executive Compensation

21.

Takeovers in the Boardroom: Burke Versus Schumpeter

Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 517, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 306, Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 280
Number of pages: 16 Posted: 01 Jun 2005
Ronald J. Gilson and Reinier Kraakman
Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 901 (24,113)
Citation 2

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Takeovers, defensive tactics

22.

Guide to the Russian Law on Joint Stock Companies (in Russian)

As published by Labirint Press, Moscow, Russia, 1999; (English version is available from Kluwer Law International, 1998)
Number of pages: 702 Posted: 26 Oct 2000
Bernard S. Black, Reinier Kraakman and Anna Tarassova
Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Harvard Law School and University of Maryland - Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS)
Downloads 851 (26,205)
Citation 2

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23.

Supreme Court Amicus Brief of 19 Corporate Law Professors, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, No. 14-915

Number of pages: 55 Posted: 08 Nov 2015
John C. Coates, IV, Lucian A. Bebchuk, Bernard S. Black, John C. Coffee, James D. Cox, Ronald J. Gilson, Jeffrey N. Gordon, Lawrence A. Hamermesh, Henry Hansmann, Robert J. Jackson, Jr., Marcel Kahan, Vikramaditya S. Khanna, Michael Klausner, Reinier Kraakman, Donald C. Langevoort, Brian JM Quinn, Edward B. Rock, Mark J. Roe and Helen S. Scott
Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Columbia Law School, Duke University School of Law, Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School, Widener University Delaware Law School, Yale University - Law School, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, University of Michigan Law School, Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, BC Law School, New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School and New York University (NYU)
Downloads 515 (51,288)

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corporate politics, union politics, First Amendment, shareholder rights, corporate speech

24.

Controlling Corporate Misconduct: An Analysis of Corporate Liability Regimes

NYU Law Review, Vol. 72, No. 1 (1997), NYU Law and Economics Research Paper
Number of pages: 94 Posted: 03 Sep 1997 Last Revised: 27 Apr 2012
Jennifer Arlen and Reinier Kraakman
New York University School of Law and Harvard Law School
Downloads 449 (60,915)
Citation 32

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25.

Guide to the Russian Law on Joint Stock Companies (in Russian: Part I)

As published by Labirint Press, Moscow, Russia, 1999; (English version is available from Kluwer Law International, 1998)
Number of pages: 124 Posted: 14 Mar 2001
Bernard S. Black, Reinier Kraakman and Anna Tarassova
Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Harvard Law School and University of Maryland - Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS)
Downloads 410 (67,950)
Citation 1

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26.

Incomplete Organizations: Legal Entities and Asset Partitioning in Roman Commerce

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Law Working Paper No. 271/2014, Yale Law & Economics Research Paper No. 511
Number of pages: 36 Posted: 09 Oct 2014 Last Revised: 01 Nov 2014
Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire
Yale University - Law School, Harvard Law School and Fordham University School of Law
Downloads 369 (76,887)

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asset partitioning, entity shielding, limited liability, legal history, Ancient Rome, business organizations, corporations

27.

Placing Election Bylaws on the Corporate Ballot

Harvard PON Working Paper No. 915403
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 10 Jul 2006 Last Revised: 07 May 2009
Lucian A. Bebchuk, Allen Ferrell, Reinier Kraakman, Mark J. Roe and Guhan Subramanian
Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School
Downloads 366 (77,612)

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Corporate elections, shareholder voting, proxy contests, access to the ballot, by-laws, by-law amendments, proxy fights, proxy contests, corporate governance, agency costs

28.

Guide to the Russian Law on Joint Stock Companies (in Russian: Part Ii)

As published by Labirint Press, Moscow, Russia, 1999; (English version is available from Kluwer Law International, 1998)
Number of pages: 407 Posted: 14 Mar 2001
Bernard S. Black, Reinier Kraakman and Anna Tarassova
Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Harvard Law School and University of Maryland - Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS)
Downloads 303 (96,140)
Citation 1

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29.

Mome in Hindsight

Regulation, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 64-72, Winter 2004
Number of pages: 9 Posted: 26 Jan 2005
Ronald J. Gilson and Reinier Kraakman
Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 289 (101,194)

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Market efficiency, financial market efficiency, universally informed trading, professionally informed trading, derivatievly informed trading, uninformed trading, behavioral finance, efficients markets hypothesis, securities and exchange, capital asset prices, capital markets, valuation

30.

Guide to the Russian Law on Joint Stock Companies (in Russian: Part Iii)

As published by Labirint Press, Moscow, Russia, 1999; (English version is available from Kluwer Law International, 1998)
Number of pages: 171 Posted: 14 Mar 2001
Bernard S. Black, Reinier Kraakman and Anna Tarassova
Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Harvard Law School and University of Maryland - Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS)
Downloads 259 (113,595)
Citation 1

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31.

The Link Between the Acquisitions Market and the Market for CEOs

Number of pages: 45 Posted: 13 Feb 2011 Last Revised: 17 Feb 2011
John C. Coates, IV and Reinier Kraakman
Harvard Law School and Harvard Law School
Downloads 206 (142,470)
Citation 1

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32.

Stock Pyramids, Cross-Ownership, and the Dual Class Equity: the Creation and Agency Costs of Seperating Control from Cash Flow Rights

NBER Working Paper No. w6951
Number of pages: 36 Posted: 01 Jul 2000 Last Revised: 12 Oct 2010
Lucian A. Bebchuk, Reinier Kraakman and George G. Triantis
Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School and Stanford Law School
Downloads 148 (190,786)
Citation 176

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33.

Supreme Court Amicus Brief of 22 Corporate Law Professors, Mark Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, et aL, No. 16-1466

Number of pages: 56 Posted: 02 Jan 2018
John C. Coates, IV, Lucian A. Bebchuk, John C. Coffee, Bernard S. Black, Lawrence A. Hamermesh, James D. Cox, Marcel Kahan, Reinier Kraakman, Jeffrey N. Gordon, Ronald J. Gilson, Vikramaditya S. Khanna, Michael Klausner, Henry Hansmann, Donald C. Langevoort, Brian JM Quinn, Michal Barzuza, Mira Ganor, Edward B. Rock, Mark J. Roe, Helen S. Scott, Holger Spamann and Randall S. Thomas
Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School, Duke University School of Law, New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Stanford Law School, University of Michigan Law School, Stanford Law School, Yale University - Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, BC Law School, University of Virginia School of Law, University of Texas at Austin - School of Law, New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, New York University (NYU), Harvard Law School and Vanderbilt University - Law School
Downloads 101 (254,435)

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corporate politics, union politics, First Amendment, shareholder rights, corporate speech

34.

Concluding Remarks on Creditor Protection

European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR), Vol. 7, 2006
Posted: 19 Feb 2007
Reinier Kraakman
Harvard Law School

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Creditor Protection, Company Law, Europe, European Company Law, Symposium Max Planck Institute, Ludwig Maximilians University