The Next Iteration of Progressive Corporate Law

29 Pages Posted: 14 Oct 2018 Last revised: 3 Dec 2018

See all articles by Matthew T. Bodie

Matthew T. Bodie

University of Minnesota Law School

Date Written: September 21, 2018

Abstract

A wave of progressive corporate law scholarship in the late 1980s and early 1990s reimagined corporate law from the perspective of employees, consumers, and other stakeholders left behind by shareholder primacy. Almost thirty years later, it is time to revisit this literature and consider what progressive corporate law should be in the 21st Century. This essay argues for three changes: (1) a move to the theory of the firm as the underlying economic literature; (2) a focus on employees, rather than stakeholders more generally, and (3) an effort to change statutory and structural aspects of corporate law, such as board representation, rather than Delaware chancery opinions.

This essay was presented as part of the 2016 Lara D. Gass Annual Symposium on Corporate Law, Governance, and Purpose: A Tribute to the Scholarship of Lyman Johnson and David Millon.

Keywords: progressive corporate law, theory of the firm, employee participation

JEL Classification: K22, K31

Suggested Citation

Bodie, Matthew T., The Next Iteration of Progressive Corporate Law (September 21, 2018). Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, 2017, Saint Louis U. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2017-11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3253342

Matthew T. Bodie (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota Law School ( email )

United States

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