Bloomberg Article on ESG Quotes PRI’s Wayne Winegarden

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A Sign the ESG Movement Is Too Big to Ignore: There’s Backlash

In the waning days of the Trump administration, several agencies are pushing back on the notion that corporations should prioritize anything other than profits.

By  Peter Coy, December 22, 2020, 2:00 AM PST

The legal principle that corporate boards must focus exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders wasn’t always taken for granted. It was enshrined in a 1919 court decision involving Henry Ford and two of his car company’s shareholders, the Dodge brothers. . .

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The profitable parts of it are already being done willingly, or at least could be done soon. The resistance, political and otherwise, is to the unprofitable parts. “You can’t get away from the idea that ESG takes away from profitability,” says Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow in business and economics at the free-market Pacific Research Institute. “In that type of environment you’re talking about political issues, not economic issues.”

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Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.

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