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Article: Curse of the ethical executive; Economics focus.(What is wrong with "corporate social responsibility"?)(Review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 17, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Why "corporate social responsibility" is not a welcome fashion
IT IS more than 200 years since Adam Smith observed that people enjoy their daily bread thanks not to the benevolence of their baker, but to his selfish pursuit of profit. In that observation and its implications lies the case for market capitalism. In their economic lives, people behave as though they had no regard for the public good. Yet the outcome, through the operation of the invisible hand, serves the public good better than any social planner could ever do.
Nowadays the triumph of the market is taken for granted. But this victory is far from complete--because Smith's insight is, even ...