Corporations, profit maximization and the personal sphere

Economics and Philosophy 28 (3):311-331 (2012)
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Abstract

The efficiency argument for profit maximization says that corporations and their managers should maximize profits because this is the course of action that will lead to an ‘economically efficient’ or ‘welfare maximizing’ outcome. In this paper, I argue that the fundamental problem with this argument is not that markets in the real world are less than perfect, but rather that the argument does not properly acknowledge the personal sphere. Morality allows each of us a sphere in which we are free to pursue our personal interests, even if these are not optimal from the social point of view. But the efficiency argument does not come to terms with this feature of social life.

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2012-11-29

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Author's Profile

Waheed Hussain
PhD: Harvard University; Last affiliation: University of Toronto at Scarborough

Citations of this work

Efficiency and Ethically Responsible Management.Jeffery Smith - 2018 - Journal of Business Ethics 150 (3):603-618.
Business Ethics.Jeffrey Moriarty - 2016 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Wealth creation without domination. The fiduciary duties of corporations.Rutger Claassen - 2024 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 27 (3):317-338.

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References found in this work

A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition.John Rawls - 1999 - Harvard University Press.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.
Utilitarianism: For and Against.J. J. C. Smart & Bernard Williams - 1973 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Bernard Williams.
Anarchy, State, and Utopia.Robert Nozick - 1974 - Philosophy 52 (199):102-105.

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