Table 1 summarizes ownership rights characteristics of alternative organiza-tional forms, including open corporations, proprietorships,financial mutual com-panies, and traditional cooperatives. For instance, the open corporation is charac-terized by unrestricted residual claims that are nonredeemable but freely tradable among investors in secondary equity capital markets. The horizon of residual claims is unlimited because they are rights in net cashflows for the life of the organization. In addition, residual claimants are not required to play any other function in thefirm. The unrestricted nature of common stock residual claims enables the efficient allocation of risk and the specialization of risk-bearing and decision-making functions in open corporations. In contrast to corporations, non-corporate organizational forms usually add restrictions on residual claims that may affect asset investment and use (table 1).