Everyone agrees that firms should obey the law. But beyond what the law requires-beyond bare compliance with regulations-do firms have additional social responsibilities to commit resources voluntarily to environmental protection? How should we think about firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? Are they permitted to do so, given their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Even if permissible, is the practice sustainable, or will the competitive marketplace render such efforts and their impacts transient at best? Furthermore, is the practice, however well intended, an efficient use of social and economic resources? And, as an empirical matter, to what extent do firms already behave this way? Until now, public discussion has generated more heat than light on both the normative and positive questions surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the environmental realm. In Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms, some of the nation's leading scholars in law, economics, and business examine commonly accepted assumptions at the heart of current debates on corporate social responsibility and provide a foundation for future research and policymaking.

Bruce L. Hay is a professor of law at Harvard Law School.

Robert N. Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Richard H. K. Vietor is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at the Harvard Business School.

Distinguished contributors to this book include Einer Elhauge and Mark Roe of Harvard Law School; John Donohue and Daniel Esty of Yale Law School; Paul Portney of Resources for the Future; Dennis Aigner of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Forest Reinhardt of Harvard Business School; Eric Orts of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; and David Vogel of the University of California, Berkeley.

About the Contributors
Overview
The Four Questions of Corporate Social Responsibility: May They, Can They, Should They, Do They?
Bruce L. Hay, Robert N. Stavins, and Richard H. K. Vietor
Part I: The Legal Perspective
Corporate Managers Operational Discretion to Sacrifice Corporate Profits in the Public Interest
Einer R. Elhauge
Comments on Elhauge:
Does Greater Managerial Freedom to Sacrifice Profits Lead to Higher Social Welfare?
John J. Donohue
On Sacrificing Profits in the Public Interest
Mark J. Roe
Summary of Discussion
Part II: The Economic Perspective
Corporate Social Responsibility: An Economic and Public Policy Perspective
Paul R. Portney
Comments on Portney:
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Have to Be Unprofitable?
Dennis J. Aigner
On Portney's Complaint:
Reconceptualizing Corporate Social Responsibility
Daniel C. Esty
Summary of Discussion
Part III: The Business Perspective
Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms: Perspectives from the Business Literature
Forest L. Reinhardt
Comments on Reinhardt:
Ethics, Risk, and the Environment in Corporate Responsibility
Eric W. Orts
Opportunities for and Limitations of Corporate Environmentalism
David Vogel
Summary of Discussion
Index