Study
Environmental, Social, and Governance Theory
View Full Document as PDF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The concept known as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) theory has a long history of similar,…
Blog
Expect Search for Corporate Virtue to Get Increasingly Expensive
Last week I wrote about a video from the Financial Times that was meant to explain environmental social, and governance (ESG) investing. Despite…
Fox Business
SEC’s Gary Gensler Eyes Crypto And Climate Change With Confirmation Official
Fox Business cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on ESG: ESG advocates are likely to try to stretch the definition of material as…
FEE
Got Woke: A Review of ‘The Dictatorship of Woke Capital’
How did corporate America, long considered one of the most conservative American institutions, become a lead protagonist in a culture war over all manner of…
Blog
Americans Ambivalent about Billionaire Influence, Reject Left-Wing Hostility
New polling, recently written up at Reason, shows that the American public isn’t nearly as hostile to capitalism, and the leaders of big…
Blog
Will Anyone Challenge the SEC’s Ever-Expanding Authority?
This question of redefining a government agency’s mission arose last week during an event hosted by George Mason University’s Center for the Study of…
National Review
SEC Unbound: Yet More Regulatory Creep
Federal agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have long varied in their focus and priorities, depending on their current leadership and the ideological composition…
Blog
Perspectives on “Woke Capital” and Politicized Investing
Recently, the Competitive Enterprise Institute hosted a virtual book event for Political Forum publisher Steve Soukup’s new book, The Dictatorship of Woke Capital:…
Comment
CEI Comment on NASDAQ Board Diversity Proposal
View Full Document as PDF Comment of Richard MorrisonResearch Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute[1]To the Securities and Exchange Commission In the…
Wealth Management
Gary Gensler Lays Out Enforcement Priorities at Senate Hearing
Wealth Management cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison and Senior Fellow John Berlau on the SEC and Gary Gensler: But representatives from the…
News Release
Senate Should Question Biden SEC, CFPB Nominees About Needed Constraints on Regulators
Today, the Senate Banking Committee is considering President Biden’s nomination of both Gary Gensler to head the SEC and Rohit Chopra to head the CFPB.
News Release
Richard Morrison Statement on the Confirmation Hearing of Gary Gensler to Be SEC Chair
Senior Fellow Richard Morrison reacted to the confirmation hearing of Gary Gensler to be SEC Chair: “Chairman-designate Gensler’s prepared remarks for today’s confirmation hearing…
Blog
Federalist Society and SEC’s Roisman on Future of ESG, Corporate Governance
Yesterday the Federalist Society held an excellent virtual event on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) theory, addressing “the divergent…
National Review
Voluntary ESG Disclosures Not Enough for the Feds
Dozens of companies, including some of the best-known consumer brands, recently signed on to a new system of rules for reporting on environmental, social,…
The Foundation for Economic Education
Economic Nationalists and Anti-Corporate Progressives Both Want More Government Power
Last month President Biden designated Rebecca Slaughter as acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission, where she has served as a commissioner since 2018. During a…
Inside Sources
Picking Gensler for SEC Another Sign Biden’s Bringing More Regulation to Wall Street
Inside Sources cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on President Biden’s choice of Gary Gensler as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: Opponents…
Blog
CEOs Join Davos Wonks to Launch New Corporate ESG Disclosures
Axios’ “cheerful iconoclast” Felix Salmon reported earlier this week on an agreement by dozens of major corporations to support a new system of…
Blog
BlackRock’s Larry Fink: Fight COVID with Climate Activism
Larry Fink, CEO of mega asset management firm BlackRock, has released his annual pair of letters—one to the CEOs of companies that BlackRock holds…
Blog
Gensler Agenda at SEC Bears Close Watching
President Biden has chosen former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler as his nominee to be chair of the Securities and Exchange…
Forbes
Who Is Gary Gensler, Biden’s Pick To Run The SEC?
Forbes cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on President Biden’s choice of Gary Gensler as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: Richard Morrison,…
The Epoch Times
Biden Picks Warren Allies to Head Financial Sector Oversight Agencies, SEC, and CFPB
The Epoch Times cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on Biden’s policy proposal for the SEC: Some conservatives have expressed reservation. Richard Morrison,…
News Release
Biden’s SEC Pick Should Focus on Commission’s Core Mission, Not Political Causes: CEI Experts
President-elect Biden is reportedly set to select Gary Gensler to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler is a current MIT professor who previously served…
The Washington Post
Biden Likely To Tap Gary Gensler To Lead SEC, But The Decision Isn’t Final
The Washington Post cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on SEC reporting standards: Those efforts may already be in the crosshairs. Richard Morrison,…
Law & Liberty
Who Will Control Corporations?
Milton Friedman taught us that corporate managers should focus on profitable operations and building shareholder value, while enlightened globalists like World Economic Forum founder Klaus…
The American Spectator
Money Isn’t Ruining Christmas
ost of us love the idea of a snow-filled white Christmas, but secretly dread the accompanying blizzard of commentary about how we ruin the season…
National Review
Team Biden: Full Steam Ahead on Politicized Investing
Politicized investing, especially of the “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) variety, has experienced some regulatory pushback during the last year, but the incoming Biden administration is…
Blog
Biden Team Expected to Take Hatchet to Pension Protection Rule
The Department of Labor, under the leadership of Secretary Eugene Scalia, implemented an important (though widely misunderstood) rule this year, regarding how federally regulated pension…
Blog
Retro Review: The Communist Manifesto (1848)
The manifesto of the Communist party, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847 and first published the next year, has a legendary pair…
National Review
Biden Brain Trust: Forget the Billionaires, Guillotine the Corporations
Buried beneath the laundry pile of new left-wing regulations the Biden administration hopes to push is a previously obscure idea whose time may, regrettably, have come:…
Blog
Millennials, Gen Z Optimistic about Hard Work Leading to Prosperity
The Walton Family Foundation released an interesting survey recently that found that Generation Z (ages 13–23) and Millennial (ages 24–39) Americans are more optimistic…
Blog
High CEO Pay Isn’t Making Anyone Poor
While most American are still following the final vote counts in the 2020 presidential election, many lower-profile, but still important, issues have been decided at…
The American Spectator
Woke Investing and Management Strategies Threaten the Future of American Free Enterprise
The enlightened titans of the business world, from Davos, Switzerland, to New York, San Francisco, and beyond, are full of suggestions for how commerce and…
National Review
A Useful Pandemic: Davos Launches New ‘Reset,’ this Time on the Back of COVID
National Review cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on the Great Reset and claims made by Klaus Schwab: In a recent article (skillfully …
Blog
Boeing Declines to Blackmail Washington Taxpayers, Threatened by Governor in Return
Boeing recently announced plans to consolidate all production of its 787 Dreamliner jet, moving some existing work from the company’s traditional home in Washington…
National Review
Davos Chief’s Call for Higher Taxes, More Regulation Would Mean Less Prosperity
Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, which famously meets every year in Davos, Switzerland, is advising a “Great Reset” of economic policy…
Blog
Pension Managers Must Focus on Retiree Security, Not Politics
A new proposed rule from the Department of Labor on pension funds would clarify the responsibilities of pension fund fiduciaries covered under the Employee Retirement…
Comment
Comment on Employee Benefits Security Administration Proposed Rule “Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights”
Blog
CEI Event with Hester Peirce and Paul Atkins: ESG, Crypto, and other SEC Hot Topics
Yesterday, in the most recent installment of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s “Repeal for Resilience” event series, CEI President Kent Lassman welcomed Securities and Exchange Commission…
Blog
Climate Cronyism: Big Businesses Tailor Policy to Benefit Themselves
A shorter version of this post was published as an op-ed in the Washington Examiner last week. The Business Roundtable (BRT), an association of…
National Review
Can We Afford to Let Left-Wing Activists Ignore Their Social Responsibilities?
The New York Times has observed the 50th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s famous article “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase…
Washington Examiner
Climate change cronyism: Big businesses tailor policy to benefit themselves at your cost
An association of CEOs of large, U.S.-based corporations has joined the global warming bandwagon, releasing a new policy document, “Addressing Climate…
The Washington Examiner
Climate Change Cronyism: Big Businesses Tailor Policy to Benefit Themselves at Your Cost
An association of CEOs of large, U.S.-based corporations has joined the global warming bandwagon, releasing a new policy document, “Addressing Climate…
Blog
Do We Want Corporations to Be Society’s Moral Referees?
The New York Times is observing the 50th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s famous article “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”…
Blog
Socialism, Nationalism, and Political Control: Iain Murray on The Remnant
My colleague Iain Murray had a fascinating conversation this week with The Remnant’s Jonah Goldberg about his excellent new book, The Socialist Temptation.
Blog
Good Vibes for Sale: The Business of Cultural Innovation
The current issue of Harvard Business Review has a fascinating article by former business school professor and brand consultant Douglas Holt. He advises…
Blog
ESG Mission Creep Could Lead to Serious Legal, Market Risks for Companies
An increasing number of U.S. corporations are signaling their commitment to corporate social responsibility by integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into their operations…
Blog
Good Vibes for Sale: The Business of Cultural Innovation
The current issue of Harvard Business Review has a fascinating article by former business school professor and brand consultant Douglas Holt. He advises companies looking to innovate successfully…
Blog
Demise of ESG Investing Overstated
The Department of Labor’s recent notice of proposed rulemaking on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in pension fund investments has received a…
Blog
Don’t Let Feds Become Investing’s Sheriff of Nottingham
Investing company Robinhood and its signature smartphone app have taken off in popularity in the last several months. According to Bloomberg, Robinhood has “catapulted ahead…
National Review
Let a Thousand ESG Certifiers Bloom
The business world has recently seen a dramatic increase in the vogue for “socially responsible” rules of behavior. Companies are encouraged to make environmental, social, and…
