News

Colleen Honigsberg and Robert J. Jackson, Jr. write that Exxon Mobil’s decision to sue its own investors over a shareholder proposal threatens to enervate an admittedly imperfect but ultimately valuable mechanism that provides shareholder feedback to corporate managers and helps both parties negotiate better governance outcomes.

On May 29, Exxon Mobil held its 2024 corporate election. Before the election, the company sued two investors over their proposal to include a commitment in its proxy statement to accelerate the company’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sarah Haan argues that the election and the lawsuit shed more light on current upheavals in corporate democracy than they do on the success of the ESG movement.

The 2024 Marshall Forum held a panel on Chicago Economics, debating its focus on big questions, data-driven research, and the role of markets. Panelists discussed a move away from pure market efficiency and a growing focus on inequality within the field.

In new research, Jitendra Aswani finds that India’s mandatory corporate social responsibility contribution for large firms increased corporate borrowing costs, but transparency and clear communication to investors about these contributions reduced the additional costs.

Matthias Breuer, Wei Cai, Anthony Le, and Felix Vetter find that gender minority representation on German works councils helps to improve worker welfare and productivity.

Diana Moss and Jason Gold write that the major private antitrust lawsuit involving how the National Collegiate Athletic Association governs compensation for college student athletes overreaches by remaking the model of college sports in the United States. Instead, the paradigm shift in college athletics should be deliberated and decided through the legislative process.

In part II of a two-part series, Michael A. Carrier analyzes the merits and strengths of the government’s recent lawsuit against Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, for monopolizing the live entertainment market. See here for part I.

In part I of a two-part series, Michael A. Carrier outlines the evidence behind the government’s recent lawsuit against Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, for monopolizing the live entertainment market. Part II will come out tomorrow.

In new research, Tommaso Crescioli & Toon Van Overbeke find that small business owners and their families who have lost revenue share to rising market concentration among big businesses have turned to far-right political parties to express their grievances.

W.C. Bunting and Tomer Stein investigate the role of amicus curiae process in the development of business law cases at the state level. The findings reveal that the business law amicus curiae process is dominated by lobbying groups, particularly by associations serving big business, and that these "Amicus Lobbying" efforts have a higher success rate compared to non-lobbying groups.