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Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens

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Author Info
Reinhardt, Forest L.
Stavins, Robert N.
Vietor, Richard H.K.

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Abstract

Business leaders, government officials, and academics are focusing considerable attention on the concept of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR), particularly in the realm of environmental protection. Beyond complete compliance with environmental regulations, do firms have additional moral or social responsibilities to commit resources to environmental protection? How should we think about the notion of firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? May they do so within the scope of their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Can they do so on a sustainable basis, or will the forces of a competitive marketplace render such efforts and their impacts transient at best? Do firms, in fact, frequently or at least sometimes behave this way, reducing their earnings by voluntarily engaging in environmental stewardship? And finally, should firms carry out such profit-sacrificing activities (i.e., is this an efficient use of social resources)? We address these questions through the lens of economics, including insights from legal analysis and business scholarship.

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Paper provided by Resources For the Future in its series Discussion Papers with number dp-08-12.

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Date of creation: 25 Apr 2008
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Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-08-12

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Related research
Keywords: corporate social responsibility; voluntary environmental performance;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Social Responsibility
L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Clark, Matthew, 2005. "Corporate environmental behavior research: informing environmental policy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 422-431, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Boris Marinov & Bruce Heiman, 1998. "Company Law and Corporate Governance Renewal in Transition Economies: The Bulgarian Dilemma," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 231-261, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Pargal, Sheoli & Wheeler, David, 1996. "Informal Regulation of Industrial Pollution in Developing Countries: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1314-27, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Melissa B. Frye & Edward Nelling & Elizabeth Webb, 2006. "Executive Compensation in Socially Responsible Firms," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(5), pages 446-455, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Canice Prendergast, 1999. "The Provision of Incentives in Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 7-63, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Dasgupta, Susmita & Hettige, Hemamala & Wheeler, David, 2000. "What Improves Environmental Compliance? Evidence from Mexican Industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 39-66, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Altman, Morris, 1999. "The Methodology of Economics and the Survival Principle Revisited and Revised: Some Welfare and Public Policy Implications of Modeling the Economic Agent," Review of Social Economy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 427-49, December.
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  12. Joshua Graff Zivin & Arthur Small, 2005. "A Modigliani-Miller Theory of Altruistic Corporate Social Responsibility," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 0(1). [Downloadable!]
  13. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58, pages 211. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Mike Adams, 1998. "An Analysis of Corporate Donations: United Kingdom Evidence," Journal of Management Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(5), pages 641-654, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521819473 is not listed on IDEAS
  17. Brown, William O. & Helland, Eric & Smith, Janet Kiholm, 2006. "Corporate philanthropic practices," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 855-877, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Wendy Chapple & Andrew Cooke & Vaughan Galt & David Paton, 2001. "The determinants of voluntary investment decisions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(8), pages 453-463. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Markus Kitzmueller, 2008. "Economics and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economics Working Papers ECO2008/37, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
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