Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms: Perspectives from Law, Economics, and Business (Resources for the Future S) - Hardcover

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9781933115023: Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms: Perspectives from Law, Economics, and Business (Resources for the Future S)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1933115025 ISBN 13: 9781933115023

Publisher: Routledge, 2005

Everyone agrees that firms should obey the law. But beyond what the law requires-beyond bare compliance with regulations-do firms have additional social responsibilities to commit resources voluntarily to environmental protection? How should we think about firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? Are they permitted to do so, given their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Even if permissible, is the practice sustainable, or will the competitive marketplace render such efforts and their impacts transient at best? Furthermore, is the practice, however well intended, an efficient use of social and economic resources? And, as an empirical matter, to what extent do firms already behave this way? Until now, public discussion has generated more heat than light on both the normative and positive questions surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the environmental realm. In Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms, some of the nation‘s leading scholars in law, economics, and business examine commonly accepted assumptions at the heart of current debates on corporate social responsibility and provide a foundation for future research and policymaking.

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About the Author:

Bruce L. Hay is a professor of law at Harvard Law School. Robert N. Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Richard H. K. Vietor is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at the Harvard Business School. Distinguished contributors to this book include Einer Elhauge and Mark Roe of Harvard Law School; John Donohue and Daniel Esty of Yale Law School; Paul Portney of Resources for the Future; Dennis Aigner of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Forest Reinhardt of Harvard Business School; Eric Orts of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; and David Vogel of the University of California, Berkeley.

Review:

'Resources for the Future has published a stimulating new book which showcases differing views on the topic of corporate social responsibility. . . . [These issues] are argued back and forth with verve and spirit. Well worth reading if you want to understand the important stakes at the heart of the CSR debate.' The Environmental Forum

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