Secondary markets have little or nothing to do with resource allocation. The business actually has little need to get involved at all in its stock market listi

Secondary markets have little or nothing to do with resource allocation. The business actually has little need to get involved at all in its stock market listing if it is just getting on with its business. It's only when you start using shares as currency to buy other things (whether manpower or other companies) that secondary listings and the ability to swap them into cash starts to matter. There's a fairly reasonably argument that a stock market in its modern construction is actually more of a hindrance to genuine equity investment and it shouldn't exist. Then those investing in equity have to look at the ability of the company to generate an income rather than sell itself to the greater fool.