{"id":4050,"date":"2009-01-09T00:20:44","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T00:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/corporations-and-ethics-a-luxu.html"},"modified":"2009-01-09T00:20:44","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T00:20:44","slug":"corporations-and-ethics-a-luxu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/corporations-and-ethics-a-luxu.html","title":{"rendered":"Corporations and Ethics: A luxury good?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Found this here<\/a> and thought we could have a conversation. In brief, should we expect big business to do good and to make money? Does this make a difference when you choose your vocation or your job or your employer? Is this question being asked more and more? <\/p>\n

Bill Gates<\/b> began this discussion a year ago by arguing for a new
\ntype of capitalism where firms would do good while doing well<\/b>, solving
\nthe problems of poverty and disease that still stalk the planet. <\/p>\n

In a sense, Mr. Gates’s real intellectual opponent is Milton
\nFriedman<\/b>. Nearly 40 years ago, Friedman argued, in the pages of The New
\nYork Times Magazine, that corporations have only one responsibility:
\nmaximizing profits<\/b>. Firms have been entrusted by their shareholders to
\nearn money. If shareholders then want to use that money to do good,
\nthen that is the shareholders’ business. Friedman argued that corporate
\nchieftains should not use other people’s money to cater to their own
\nsocial causes. <\/p>\n

Two of my favorite scholars, Richard Posner and Lawrence Summers ……. Mr. Summers
\npithily sums up the case against Mr. Gates: <\/p>\n

\n

It is hard in this world to do well. It is hard to do
\ngood. When I hear a claim that an institution is going to do both, I
\nreach for my wallet. You should too.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Summers reminds us of the problems created by hybrid
\ninstitutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, where profit maximization
\nand public support came together to cost taxpayers plenty….<\/p>\n

The hard problems concern whether there is ever a role for
\ncorporations that try to do more than just the minimum
\nprofit-maximizing level of ethical behavior<\/b>. The problem with
\nFriedman’s vision is that not every employee is crazy about the idea of
\nspending their working life solely to enrich anonymous shareholders. As
\nthe world has gotten richer, more and more people have opted for jobs
\nthat at least appear to be serving some greater good<\/b>. <\/p>\n

In econ-speak, a sense of doing good is a luxury good<\/b>. Journalists
\nlike to think that they serve truth as well as their newspapers’
\nowners. Doctors like to think that they have a duty to patients as well
\nas to the H.M.O. that employs them. Firms cater to this human taste by
\nfrequently telling workers that they are doing both well and good, and
\nsometimes that talk is more than just empty employee relations. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Found this here and thought we could have a conversation. In brief, should we expect big business to do good and to make money? Does this make a difference when you choose your vocation or your job or your employer? Is this question being asked more and more? 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