Political Economy of Finance 2020: Should Corporations Have a Social Purpose?
September 10–11, 2020, Virtual Conference
- September 10, 2020
About the Conference
Fifty years ago, Milton Friedman declared that the only social responsibility of business was to maximize profits. While this idea has dominated academia and business for most of the last 50 years, it has recently been called into question. Should corporations have a purpose that is different from making money? What should this purpose be? Should ESG objectives be part of the corporate goals? Who should decide?
To explore these topics, the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business is launching the fourth conference on the Political Economy of Finance. The conference will be held in conjunction with Chicago Booth’s conference on Corporate Social Responsibility Revisited.
The Stigler Center publication ProMarket is also launching a series of articles on the topic, beginning with "Friedman’s Principle, 50 Years Later" by Luigi Zingales.
Program
Thursday, September 10
Corporate Social Responsibility Revisited: How Has CSR Changed Since Milton Friedman Ignited the Debate 50 Years Ago?
| 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT |
Panel Discussion: The Business of Business Margaret Blair, Vanderbilt University Law School Mary Bush,'71, corporate board member Steven Kaplan, University of Chicago Booth School of Business |
|---|---|
| 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT |
Keynote Address Oliver Hart, Harvard University Moderator: Randall Kroszner, University of Chicago Booth School of Business |
Political Economy of Finance Conference 2020: Should Corporations Have a Social Purpose? - Day 1
| 1:30 p.m. - 2:10 p.m. CT |
Conservative TV and Corporate Social Responsibility (with Mahsa Kaviani and Lily Li) | Watch video Hosein Maleki, Florida State University | Slides Discussant: Matilde Bombardini, University of California at Berkeley | Slides |
|---|---|
| 2:10 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. CT |
Do institutional investors mitigate social costs of privatization? Evidence from prisons | Watch video Eyub Yegen, University of Toronto | Slides Discussant: Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva, Federal Reserve Board | Slides |
Friday, September 11
Political Economy of Finance Conference 2020: Should Corporations Have a Social Purpose? - Day 2 -
| 10:00 a.m. - 10:40 a.m. CT |
The Illusory Promise of Stakeholder Governance (with Roberto Tallarita) | Watch video Lucian Bebchuk, Harvard University | Slides Discussant: Alex Edmans, London Business School | Slides |
|---|---|
| 10:40 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. CT |
Consumer response to corporate political statements: Evidence from geolocation data | Watch video Marcus Painter, Saint Louis University | Slides Discussant: John Matsusaka, University of Southern California |
| 11:20 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. CT | Break |
| 11:30 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. CT |
The Real Effects of Environmental Activist Investing (with S. Lakshmi Naaraayanan and Varun Sharma) | Watch video Kunal Sachdeva, Rice University Discussant: Mara Faccio, Purdue University | Slides |
| 12:10 p.m. - 12:20 p.m. CT | Closing Remarks |
| 12:20 p.m. CT | Conference Ends |
Conference Organizers
- Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance & Charles M. Harper Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- Paola Sapienza, Donald C. Clark/HSBC Chair in Consumer Finance & Professor of Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Program Committee
- Pat Akey
- Efraim Benmelech
- Mara Faccio
- Viktar Fedaseyeu
- Raymond Fisman
- Stefan Lewellen
- Todd Mitton
- Brian Richter
- Boris Vallee
- Vikrant Vig
- Paolo Volpin
- Yupana Wiwattanakantang
For more information, contact:
Rachel Piontek, Assistant Director, Stigler Center
773.702.4033
rachel.piontek@chicagobooth.edu