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# the necessity and history of corporate social responsbility - Doctors Without Boredom
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/matthewloftus-2018-09-03-necessity-history-corporate-social-responsbility/
- Published: 2018-09-03T07:56:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-22T16:45:39.000Z
- Description: I very much look forward to reading Kyle Edward Williams’ thesis on corporate social responsibility whenever it comes out. For now, he’s got a great piece in the Washington Post on Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s plan to bring responsibility back to corporate […]
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Matthew Loftus, Culture, History, Ethics, Economics

I very much look forward to reading Kyle Edward Williams’ thesis on corporate social responsibility whenever it comes out. For now, he’s got [a great piece in the *Washington Post* on Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s plan to bring responsibility back to corporate governance:](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/08/24/elizabeth-warrens-revolutionary-plan-to-reduce-income-inequality/?utm%5Fterm=.485c5721dca0&ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

> This is not just a question of corporate greed. The problem is also our federal system. Because businesses can choose to incorporate in any state and still do business on a national level, state governments have few incentives for putting restrictive language back into charters. Any state that did so would risk losing business and tax revenue to its neighbors.  
>  
> Warren wants to resurrect the movement to impose good corporate citizenship. That’s a good thing. Her project rests upon the idea that corporations are quasi-public institutions beholden to a greater array of interests than just shareholders, because the government grants them remarkable privileges like limited liability, potentially eternal life and a variety of legal tools for capital formation. They are governmental institutions that [exist in some sense](https://www.du.edu/ahss/polisci/media/documents/APSR%5Fcorps.pdf?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) beyond the categories of public and private.