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A century ago European academics like Werner Sombart worried why the United States was exceptional, in that it had no socialism. Today we academics worry about a different form of American exceptionalism: why is there so little block holding in the United States? Most other countries have powerful family groups that control substantial numbers of corporations through large blocks, some held through pyramids of holding companies and special classes of shares with extraordinary voting rights. The United States, by and large, does not. Most other countries have holding or other parent companies that maintain substantial control over the affairs of publicly traded and listed operating corporations. The United States, by and large, does not: large parent companies do not have listed subsidiaries. Many other countries have large blocks of shares in individual corporations held or voted by financial intermediaries that …