Economic Theory Commons^™

See No Evil? Revisiting Early Visions Of The Social Responsibility Of Business: Adolf A. Berle’S Contribution To Contemporary Conversations, Erika George

Seattle University Law Review

Much corporate legal scholarship considers such fact patterns as beyond the scope of the discipline’s core concerns. Yet, increasingly, questions are asked concerning the scale and scope of modern corporate power. This Article will challenge the conventional understanding of what the core discipline of corporate law should encompass and argues that the failure to focus on precisely these sorts of factual scenarios involving allegations of corporate complicity in human rights violations and environmental degradation is misguided and short-sighted.

Neo-Brandeisianism And The New Deal: Adolf A. Berle, Jr., William O. Douglas, And The Problem Of Corporate Finance In The 1930s, Jessica Wang

Seattle University Law Review

This essay revisits Adolf A. Berle, Jr. and The Modern Corporation and Private Property by focusing on the triangle of Berle, Louis D. Brandeis, and William O. Douglas in order to examine some of the underlying assumptions about law, economics, and the nature of modern society behind securities regulation and corporate finance in the 1930s. I explore Douglas and Berle’s academic and political relationship, the conceptual underpinnings of Brandeis, Berle, and Douglas’s critiques of modern finance, and the ways in which the two younger men—Berle and Douglas—ultimately departed from their role model, Brandeis.

Acting In Good Faith: An Economic Approach To Religious Organizations As Advocacy Groups, Anthony J. Gill, Steven J. Pfaff

Sociology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Advocacy groups are all the rage! Over the past two decades, a new cottage industry has erupted in academia examining the seemingly explosive growth in new social movements, advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that has occurred in Western industrialized nations and several developing nations as well. Many of these movements and NGOs have crossed international boundaries, feeding the notion that globalization is eroding boundaries between people all around the world. This literature certainly has added to our knowledge of how advocacy groups originate and operate. But curiously missing from these recent studies has been any discussion of what amounts …

Sraffa, Marx, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2008, August 27). Letter to Francisco on the algebraic decomposition of long-term exchange rate behavior, international terms of trade, and real unit labor costs [Unpublished letter manuscript].

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Smith and a standard system: Equations [Unpublished handwritten manuscript].

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Ricardo, Sraffa, Marx: Paper topics (Eco 211S) [Unpublished handwritten manuscript].

• Shaikh, A. (2000, September). Vertically integrated labor costs and market prices in advanced countries [Unpublished document with charts].

• Shaikh, A. (1995, June 26). Standard price–value ratios (Marxian prices of production) [Unpublished document with charts].

• Shaikh, A. (1987, …

Foreword: In Berle’S Footsteps, Charles R.T. O'Kelley

Seattle University Law Review

On the weekend of November 6–8, 2009, scholars from around the world gathered in Seattle for a symposium—In Berle’s Footsteps—celebrating the launch of the Adolf A. Berle, Jr. Center on Corporations, Law and Society. As founding director of the Berle Center, I described our undertaking: “It is with a profound sense of obligation to the legacy that has been entrusted to my care, that I announce the launching of the Adolf A. Berle, Jr. Center on Corporations, Law and Society. It is a privilege to follow in Berle’s footsteps.”

Opening Remarks, Chancellor William B. Chandler Iii

Seattle University Law Review

Law is, in many ways, a backwards-looking field. We litigate over facts that have already occurred, challenge deals that have already been signed, and apply rules of decision based on previously-established precedent or statutes already enacted. To the extent that this Center and the symposium reflect on Berle’s work, they too are an exercise in looking back. Indeed, some might say the establishment of a Center named in Berle’s honor is a monument to the past.

Revisiting Berle And Rethinking The Corporate Structure, Kelli A. Alces

Seattle University Law Review

Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means painted what remains a defining portrait of corporate law. The separation of ownership and control they described and the agency costs it causes are still a central concern of the law of corporate governance. For that reason, Berle’s work is relevant nearly eighty years after its publication. Seemingly forgotten, however, is that Berle’s enduring description of the corporate structure was published before most of today’s corporate law was in place. His work preceded the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and even preceded the dominance of Delaware common law in …

Power Without Property, Still: Unger, Berle, And The Derivatives Revolution, Cristie Ford, Carol Liao

Seattle University Law Review

We are in a time when the notion of property is in flux. The derivatives revolution has shattered the “atom of property” well beyond what was originally imagined in 1932 by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means. This disaggregation has had fascinating, and often adverse, effects on corporate law and securities regulation. Moreover, the phenomenon has had the unexpected effect of permitting some parties that already possess considerable social, economic, and political power to accumulate even more.

The New Financial Assets: Separating Ownership From Control, Tamar Frankel

Seattle University Law Review

In The Modern Corporation and Private Property, Adolf A. Berle and Gardiner Means wrote about the separation of ownership from control in corporations. They noted that the interests of the controlling directors and managers can diverge from those of the shareholder owners of the firm. . . . There are those who consider such a decoupling beneficial. Others express the same concern that Berle and Means have expressed. And depending on what one focuses on in viewing the pluses and minuses of these separations, one could reach different conclusions. I reach a number of conclusions. First, the separation of …

Then And Now: Professor Berle And The Unpredictable Shareholder, Jennifer G. Hill

Seattle University Law Review

Shareholders, and the relationship between shareholders and management, lay at the heart of Professor Berle’s scholarship. The goal of this Article is to compare the image of shareholders emerging from The Modern Corporation and Private Property and the Berle/Dodd debate with a range of contemporary visions of the shareholder that underpin some international regulatory responses to recent financial debacles, from Enron to the current global financial crisis. As the Article dis- cusses, these recent developments in the era of financial crises have prompted a reevaluation of the traditional image of the shareholder—and the role of the shareholder in the modern …

Berle And The Entrepreneur, Charles R.T. O'Kelley

Seattle University Law Review

In the first and last four chapters (“the Five Chapters”) of The Modern Corporation and Private Property, Adolf Berle, Jr. describes in sweeping terms a fundamental transformation of the American economy. . . . Writing more than ten years before Berle, another seminal scholar, Frank Knight . . . developed a theory of the entrepreneur as part of his larger effort to more carefully explain the theoretical underpinnings of a free-market economy. . . . Given Knight’s prominence and the fact that Knight apparently reached dramatically different conclusions than did Berle concerning the consequences flowing from separation of ownership …

The Birth Of Corporate Governance, Harwell Wells

Seattle University Law Review

Part I of this Article briefly examines the concept of “corporate governance” and argues for dating the concept’s origins to the debates of the 1920s. Part II then moves on to examine early scholarly and popular discussions of the separation of ownership and control. After surveying the historical developments that produced the recognizably modern corporate economy around the turn of the century, it examines early scholarly and popular discussions of the separation of ownership and control, focusing on three major thinkers, Louis D. Brandeis, Walter Lippmann, and Thorstein Veblen. It argues that, while each of these authors examined the separation …

Eco104 Ricardo, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection contains:

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (2005, Fall). Historical foundations of political economy [Midterm exam sample questions].

• Ricardo 93 percent price theory [Handout]. (n.d.).

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (n.d.). Ricardo’s general problem [Handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A. (2010, September 8). Basic structure of the classical theory of price [Manuscript].

• Calculation of standard Marxian prices of production [File printout]. (2004, October 6).

• Wage-profit frontiers using commodity 61 as numeraire [Graphs]. (n.d.).

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (1973, February 27). Value seminar [Handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (n.d.). Ch IV: On natural and market price [Handwritten notes].

• …

Chapter Six, Capital, Profits, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Chapter 6: Capital, profits. Unpublished notes by Anwar Shaikh, June 2010.
• Capital stock alternative calculations gross and net. Manuscript by Anwar Shaikh, June 17, 2010.
• Capital stock issues. Unpublished notes by Anwar Shaikh, 2000.
• Capital estimates via aggregate PIM method relative to BEA capital measures. Manuscript by Anwar Shaikh, June 2, 2009.
• Old and new capital stock data. Unpublished notes by Anwar Shaikh, October 16, 2003.
• Capital stock data at the OECD: Status and outlook. Paul Schreyer and Colin Webb, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, September 2006.
• Capital stock aggregation. Unpublished notes by Anwar Shaikh, May …

Eco 104 Marx, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes.

• Anwar Shaikh. (n.d.). File folder notes for ECO 104: Marx on value, money, and price [Unpublished handwritten notes on file folder]. Author.

• Smith, H. (2010, February 7). Super-wealthy investors move billions out of Greece. The Guardian. Guardian News & Media.

• Moudud, J., Nell, E., & Shaikh, A. (2010, February 7). Sovereign debt defaults [Email correspondence].

• Shaikh, A. (1986, August). Surplus value [Unpublished manuscript prepared for The New Palgrave (final)]. Author.

• Shaikh, A. (2009, January 15). Basic structure of the classical theory of price (GECO 104) [Unpublished course document]. Author.

• …

Monitoring To Reduce Agency Costs: Examining The Behavior Of Independent And Non-Independent Boards, Anita Anand, Frank Milne, Lynnette Purda

Seattle University Law Review

Berle and Means’s analysis of the corporation—in particular, their view that those in control are not the owners of the corporation—raises questions about actions that corporations take to counter concerns regarding management’s influence. What mechanisms, if any, do corporations implement to balance the distribution of power in the corporation? To address this question, we analyze boards of directors’ propensity to voluntarily adopt recommended corporate governance practices. Because board independence is one way to enhance shareholders’ ability to monitor management, we probe whether firms with independent boards of directors (which we define as boards with either an independent chair or a …

Section 9, Ii - Blecker Paper On International Competitiveness, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Handwritten cover note on Section 9, II and Blecker paper on international competitiveness. Shaikh, A. 2010. [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research.
• International competitiveness, relative wages, and the balance-of-payments constraint. Blecker, R. A. 1998. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 20(4). M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
• Aggregate demand and firm behavior: a new perspective on Keynesian microfoundations. Fazzari, S. M., Ferri, P., & Greenberg, E. 1998. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 20(4). M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
• The long view of China's currency. Leonhardt, D. 2010. The New York Times. …

Review Weeks Capitalexploration And Crisis, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Review weeks folder notes (Handwritten folder notes). Anwar Shaikh Papers. Collection of unpublished review materials.
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Review of John Weeks' manuscript, capital, exploitation and crises (Peer review report). Anwar Shaikh Papers. Duke University Press.

Loose Profit Notes, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Two sources of profits (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Handwritten annotations on commodity flows and pricing (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2009). Handwritten ledger on business profit and national income and product accounts calculations (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2004). The importance of working time in Marx's analysis (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Handwritten equations on linear standard prices and money (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1999). Handwritten outline on fictitious capital, capital gains, and profit definitions (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1977). Handwritten reading notes on Suzanne de Brunhoff's Marx on Money (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1978). …

Chapter Four, Production And Costs, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. — August 20, 2009 (with internal draft date January 16, 2009). Production and costs [Unpublished manuscript]. The main chapter text, comprising an introduction and four numbered sections on production in economic theory, production relations versus production functions, cost prices and profits, and empirical evidence on labor conditions and costs, followed by a reference list.
• Shaikh, A. — undated (annotated November 27, 2010). Appendix 4.1: Classical versus conventional national accounts [Unpublished manuscript]. A supplementary appendix mapping classical and conventional national-accounting frameworks, with accompanying footnotes and a reference list.
• Shaikh, A. — undated. Appendix 4.2: Numerical example …