The Stigler Center is launching its fourth Political Economy of Finance conference and seeking papers on topics related to corporate social responsibility, the purpose of corporations, ESG objectives, and the interaction between politics and business.
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 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives be part of the corporate goals? And who should decide?
To explore these topics, the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business is launching its fourth conference on the Political Economy of Finance.
Ahead of this conference, the Stigler Center is seeking papers on topics related to corporate social responsibility, the purpose of corporations, ESG objectives, the interaction between politics and business, and more. The conference is open to theoretical and empirical contributions on all these themes.
Paper submission procedure: You may submit your paper by visiting the Ex Ordo paper submission system (please note that you will be required to set up an account first).
Deadline: The deadline for submissions is July 19, 2020, at 11:59 pm Central time.
Official acceptance notices will be sent via email by the program co-chairs in mid-August. The program will be announced in late August.
Please note: In accordance with University guidance on Covid-19 and for the safety of our community, and in the spirit of continuing to promote and disseminate research, we will be holding the conference virtually as a series of webinars throughout September 2020. For more information, contact Rachel Piontek here.
