Why did shareholder liability disappear? We address this question by looking at its use by British insurance companies until its complete disappearance. We explore three possible explanations for its demise: (1) regulation and government-provided policyholder protection meant that it was no longer required; (2) it had become de facto limited; and (3) shareholders saw an opportunity to expunge something they disliked when insurance companies grew in size. Using hand-collected archival data, our findings suggest investors attached a risk premium to companies with shareholder liability, and it was phased out as insurance companies expanded, which meant that they were better able to pool risks.

为什么股东责任消失了？我们通过研究英国保险公司在其完全消失之前的使用情况来解决这个问题。我们探讨了其消亡的三种可能的解释：（1）监管和政府提供的投保人保护意味着不再需要它；(2)事实上已经受到限制；(3)当保险公司规模扩大时，股东看到了删除他们不喜欢的东西的机会。使用手工收集的档案数据，我们的研究结果表明，投资者向承担股东责任的公司附加了风险溢价，随着保险公司的扩张，这种溢价被逐步取消，这意味着他们能够更好地汇集风险。