The following showed up in my inbox this week and may be of interest to readers of this blog:
As part of our Capitalism & Rule of Law Project (CapLaw), the Law & Economics Center (LEC) at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School is having a big week, including by focusing attention on an important anniversary in the debate over capitalism and the rule of law. Two years ago today, on August 19, 2019, the influential Business Roundtable released what it called a “new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation signed by 181 CEOs who commit to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders.” This statement is one of many alarming calls for the abandonment of traditional and time-tested principles of corporate governance, perhaps most succinctly captured in the title of Milton Friedman’s 1970 essay in The New York Times: “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.”
Here’s a selection of CapLaw highlights from this week:
- Yesterday, August 18, the LEC hosted a luncheon panel, “Business Roundtable v. Milton Friedman: Reflections on the Second Anniversary of ‘Redefining’ the Purpose of the Corporation” attended by over 50 thought leaders. The panel featured experts from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, University of Iowa College of Law, Harvard Law School, and was moderated by The Honorable David J. Porter, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The full video is available here.
- On August 10, George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper No. 21-20, “The Illusion of Success: A Critique of Engine No. 1’s Proxy Fight at ExxonMobil,” now available for download, was posted to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) by LEC Research Fellow Bernard S. Sharfman (also Senior Governance Research Fellow at RealClearFoundation).
- Earlier this week, Sharfman’s paper was accepted for publication and is now forthcoming with the Harvard Business Law Review Online.
- On August 16, Bernard Sharfman and Henry N. Butler, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Law & Economics Center, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School had their op-ed “Engine No. 1 is all talk, no strategy with Exxon Mobil” published by MarketWatch.com.
- On August 18, their op-ed was re-published by RealClearMarkets.
- Today, August 19, another scholar in the CapLaw Project, Jonathan R. Macey (Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law, Yale Law School) published an op-ed “Why is the ESG Focus on Private Companies, Not the Government?” on BloombergLaw.com.
- Also today, on August 19, Donald J. Kochan, Professor of Law and Deputy Executive Director, Law & Economics Center, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, published an op-ed “Corporations Don’t Exist for ‘Social Good’ Agenda” in The Detroit News.
- Finally, yet again today, August 19, Professor Kochan also published a separate op-ed, “The Purpose of a Corporation is to Seek Profits, Not Popularity” in The Hill.