<html><DIV></DIV> <P>A query from Doug Orr.</P> <P> ---------------------------------- </P> <DIV></DIV>>Please respond to dorr@ewu.edu, not to the list. <DIV></DIV>>Thanks, <DIV></DIV>>Doug Orr <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> In Heilbroner's old principles book he had a great chapter on "the real <DIV></DIV>>world," which came before any discussion of theory. I still structure <DIV></DIV>>my courses that way. One piece that I got from the last edition of that <DIV></DIV>>book is hopelessly out of date, but I still use it because it is so <DIV></DIV>>effective. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> Lots of books have the breakdown of businesses into proprietorships, <DIV></DIV>>partnerships, and corps and give numbers of firms and size of sales, and <DIV></DIV>>then note that corps dominate sales. What Heilbroner did was to focus <DIV></DIV>>on the control of decision making by focusing on the ownership of assets <DIV></DIV>>by type of business and demonstrated that in 1982 3600 corps with assets <DIV></DIV>>over $250 million owned 80% of all tangeble assets in the US economy. <DIV></DIV>>3600 out of 19.5 M firms means that 0.02% of firms own and control 80% <DIV></DIV>>of the economy. This makes students take notice. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> So my question is: where do I go to get data to update these numbers? <DIV></DIV>>I have found numbers of businesses and sales by type from the IRS in the <DIV></DIV>>Stat Abstract 99. I have been able to find Total Assets for partnerships, <DIV></DIV>>also from the IRS in Stat AB, but I assume this includes tangible and <DIV></DIV>>financial assets. For corportations, I can get both tangible and financial <DIV></DIV>>assets broken out. I have found nothing on asset holdings of any type <DIV></DIV>>for proprietors. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> Obviously, I need to go beyond the Stat Ab., but knowing where to start <DIV></DIV>>would be a great help. So any thoughts you have would be great. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Thanks for any help you can give. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Doug Orr <DIV></DIV>>dorr@ewu.edu <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p></html>