Abortion is obviously one of our most divisive political issues. Thus, when corporate leaders make decisions related to abortion laws, such as moving out of a pro-life state (see, e.g., CEO: Duolingo will move operations should Pennsylvania ban abortion), a specter of political bias is arguably raised. One normative question that then arises is whether such a decision is sufficiently conflict-prone to warrant enhanced scrutiny, as I have argued here. There is certainly a shareholder-wealth-maximization case to be made for moving out of a pro-life state — specifically, the argument that high-value employees demand such action. But this determination should be supported by something more than trending Twitter comments or the personal biases of decision-makers. Corporate fiduciaries are required to consider all material information reasonably available, and where decision-making is sufficiently prone to conflicts of interest the accountability concerns of corporate governance should trump its protection of discretion.

As a perhaps related aside, one may compare the argument against state universities having official positions on whether the Constitution should be read as protecting abortion. As Prof. Leslie Johns noted in an e-mail she sent to the UCLA Chancellor following his related public statement asserting that Dobbs “is antithetical…

In February 2021, Samuel Gregg argued (here) that: “To expect the rest of the world simply to accept whatever stakeholder-corporatist insiders have decided to be the new global consensus on any given topic seems disconcertedly utopian. It also increases the possibility of more populist backlashes on an international level.”

Yesterday, George Will published an op-ed in the Washington Post that appears to capture some more of this sentiment. You should go read the whole thing (here), but here is a brief excerpt:

The New York Times recently interviewed two advocates of ESG investing. One said, in effect, that only such investing fulfills fiduciary obligations because the welfare of those whose money is being used depends on “a planet that is livable.” Meaning: Politically enlightened ESG advocates know what unenlightened investors would want if they were as intelligent and virtuous as the advocates. The other ESG enthusiast the Times interviewed said “social justice investing” is “the deep integration of four areas: racial, gender, economic and climate justice.” And the “single-issue CEO” — the kind focused on maximizing shareholders’ value — is “not the way of the future.” This is often the progressives’ argument-ending declaration: Non-progressives are on

…

Joel Slawotsky has published The Impact of Geo-Economic Rivalry on U.S. Economic Governance: Will the United States Incorporate Aspects of China’s State-Centric Governance?, 16 Va. L. & Bus. Rev. 559 (2022). An excerpt:

China’s corporate governance model emphasizes an extensive governmental role in the construction of economic markets. The paradigm consists of an economic-political syndicate of collaborative actors creating profit but whose critical core mission is to advance state objectives as defined by the ruling authority, the CCP. Economic interests thus serve political interests pursuant to a template of state direction and partnership with the private sector encompassing share ownership; industrial policies; governmental representatives embedded in the private sector; and discipline imposed for failing to comply with syndicate rules…. [S]ome in the U.S. political establishment are in favor of more governmental control to prevent corporate abuse …. To a remarkable degree, the dissatisfaction is already being manifested by attempts to engender greater government involvement in U.S. central bank policy by expanding the Federal Reserve’s (“the Fed”) mandate to encompass a wider spectrum of goals to address social justice objectives…. Moreover, efforts to expand the Fed’s mandate to encompass social goals should also be viewed in the context of proposals

…