Purpose of the Firm
The Costs of India’s Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility Rule
In new research, Jitendra Aswani finds that India’s mandatory corporate social responsibility contribution for large firms increased corporate borrowing costs, but transparency and clear communication to investors about these contributions reduced the additional costs.
Minority and Labor Representation Helps Worker Welfare and Productivity
Matthias Breuer, Wei Cai, Anthony Le, and Felix Vetter find that gender minority representation on German works councils helps to improve worker welfare and productivity.
The Fight for the Purpose of the Firm
The following is an excerpt from Kyle Edward Williams' new book, "Taming the Octopus: The Long Battle for the Soul of the Corporation," now out at W. W. Norton & Company.
Why Business Should Be More Prosocial, and Ten Guidelines for How
Business and economic thought instituted at least since the Reagan revolution in the United States have promoted firms’ narrowly self-interested, profit-maximizing conduct even at the expense of consumers and workers. This paradigm leads to social distrust and insufficient cooperation. Steven C. Salop explains this distortion and proposes 10 guidelines by which firms can self-moderate their behavior to produce prosocial outcomes.
