1. Law and accounting describe the capital of a commercial enterprise as "social".
On this point, as on many others, the Objective Political Economy follows the practice enforced by enterprise law and the standardization of corporate accounting. This usage applies to legally so-called civil enterprises.
2. A capital is divided into shares held by its shareholding or into shares subscribed by its member.
Shareholding would be, like the co-ownership of an enterprise in a general or limited partnership, eminently "capitalist". The cooperative or mutualist membership would be "solidarity". A cleavage is perpetuated without subjecting it to the verification of its economic reality.
3. Facts impose a starting point for this verification.
All action is de facto a social share. Every shareholder is de facto a member. Let's first look at what is common to all shares of capital. Let us only then consider what makes the main economic difference between two kinds of action.
4. The exploited value of a share is equal to the division of the capital by the number of shares.
The capital taken into account is increased by reserves, both mandatory and otherwise, and less any losses. The balance of unallocated earnings ("carry-forward") is therefore taken into account in the calculation of the exploited value per share. In contrast to the emission value, the exploited value varies over time.
5. Of the amount of capital used to calculate the exploited value per share, we say that it is the capital-operated.
In the case of enterprises whose shares are listed on the stock exchange, the market capitalization is likely to be more or less different from the capital under cultivation.
6. An increase in capital through the issuance of new co-ownership shares reduces the relative share, per share, of the enterprise and its profits.
It therefore reduces the potential for tradable surplus values per share. These reductions are said to be dilution.
7. The acceptance of dilution promotes the deconcentration of corporate co-ownership.
It also promotes the increase in the capital base of the enterprises where it is practiced.