Modern business arose in Europe in the form of the joint stock company, and the heart of the modern Western business system is the interaction of these companies with the capital market. American business arrangements quickly assumed marked characteristics of their own, different from those in Europe. In America, both government and family relationships were much weaker than in Europebusiness was done primarily as arms-length transactions among people without family connections, and government was forced into a primarily regulatory role in the economy. A quasi-professional management developed and the investor achieved a prominence in the governance of business unequaled in Europe.