Shareholders

Will “Portfolio Primacy” Throw a Monkey Wrench in Elon Musk’s Plans to Acquire Twitter?

The SEC's definition of fiduciary duty allows institutional shareholders to vote against Elon Musk's Twitter takeover bid thanks to portfolio primacy.

Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart on Empowering Twitter’s Shareholders

In an interview with ProMarket, Nobel laureate Oliver Hart explains why broadening our perspective on fiduciary duty beyond maximizing shareholder wealth could...

Are Large Institutional Investors Actually Effective in Getting Companies to Reduce Their CO2 Emissions?

Large institutional investors have been accused of not doing enough to reduce CO2 emissions. However, a new study finds that firms like BlackRock, Vanguard,...

President-Elect Joe Biden and the Real Lessons of DuPont

Simply talking corporate America into being more responsible is not enough. It may get corporations to talk the talk, but not to...

It is Not Just Small Investors Who Will Be Silenced Thanks to SEC’s New Rules

Shareholder proposals are one of the most effective forms of shareholder voice in corporate America. It is one of the main channels...

Beyond Friedman’s Doctrine: The True Purpose of the Business Corporation

The pandemic and the renewed focus on inequality and injustice arising in the wake of the death of George Floyd have accelerated...

Market Forces Already Address ESG Issues and the Issues Raised by Stakeholder Capitalism

When do market forces push firms toward stakeholder goals, rather than just shareholder goals? When do market forces push firms toward ESG...

Missing in Today’s Shareholder Value Maximization Credo: The Shareholders

Today’s corporate world is very different from the one Milton Friedman wrote in. In a world where the question of whether managers...

Serving Shareholders Doesn’t Mean Putting Profit Above All Else

The time has come for companies, economists, and society to abandon the argument that the only responsibility of business is to maximize profits. Editor’s note:...

Friedman’s Principle, 50 Years Later

In the mid-1980s, Milton Friedman’s view that the only social responsibility of business is to increase its profits became dominant in business...

LATEST NEWS

Mobile Internet Is Changing Employment in Developing Countries, but Not Always as Expected

Scholars and policymakers have put much faith into the prospect of internet connectivity catalyzing development in low- and middle-income countries. In new...

Biden’s Second-Best Economic Agenda

Efficiency is out and political economy is in. But what does that imply about making good policy?

The Fed and Bank Failures

Viral Acharya and Raghuram Rajan explain how quantitative easing contributed to the problems underlying the recent bank failures such as that of...

Self-Preferencing Theories Need To Account for Exploitative Abuse

Patrice Bougette, Oliver Budzinski, and Frédéric Marty argue in their research that antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic must take...

Startup Acquisitions Have Undecided Effects on Innovation and Economic Growth

Startups are a major driver of innovation, but many startups are acquired by large incumbents. Do these acquisitions stifle innovation or promote...