Triumph of the pygmy state

摘要

What would Martians make of Dela-ware? The corporate laws of this tiny state, home to just one third of one per cent of Americans, govern more than half of all publicly owned companies in America. Its expert judges, handpicked by the state's governor, give the nation's most important and closely watched rulings on corporate policy. Incorporating business in the state, moreover, is a franchise which Delaware has dominated for nearly a century. America's recent corporate scandals have wreaked havoc with other institutions empowered to regulate the nation's errant businessmen: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lost a chairman, as did the New York Stock Ex-change―and both have lost plenty of prestige. Yet Delaware has escaped, once again, untouched.