When a company is going to public, it will issue shares in order to collect money from the public. The company will pay dividend in exchange for the shareholders. In other words, i buy the shares = i invest money on the company; shares = money.
Just now i was reading a book which about why the stock market will affect the economic condition? According to this book, it said that when a company performs badly, the shareholders will not buy the share of this company and therefore the share price drops. because of the investors did not get profit, so it will depress the purchasing activities and eventually cause the economic condition get worst.