ABSTRACT
While the academics set the stage for the dramatic transformation of ownership in the US stock market, the professors did not make it happen. The market structure changed for different, more profound reasons. The first is the persistent drop in interest rates that began in 1981 and continued until late 2020. The second is the securities law change in 1982 that permitted widespread share buybacks. The third is the rise and indisputable success of Silicon Valley, an engine of world-changing innovation and capital allocation. The tax reason, so decisively promoted and purported by the academics over many decades, does not figure in this process.
