Recently, I came across this blog posting by Professor Larry Ribstein at the University of Illinois College of Law that discusses the role of Nevada in the market for corporate charters. He discusses this this article in Boardmember.com and a more scholarly article by Professors Michal Barzuza and David C. Smith.

Professors Barzuza and Smith note that Nevada is now the second most popular state for out-of-state incorporations, with 255 publicly traded corporations as of 2008. This puts Nevada far ahead of California which counted a total of only 135 publicly traded corporations.