This book examines the changing reciprocal relationships between corporations and their various
social obligations over the very long term - from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
Chapters from emerging and established business historians assess the full range of social
obligations that corporations held historically. By adopting an innovative methodological
approach that is long-term and comparative this book offers a challenge to the literature on
corporate history and will be of interest to researchers and academics in the field of finance
and business history.
