What is business for? Day one of a business course will tell you: it is to maximise shareholder profit. This single idea pervades all our thinking and teaching about business around the world but it is fundamentally wrong, Colin Mayer argues. It has had disastrous and damaging consequences for our economies, environment, politics, and societies. In this urgent call for reform, Prosperity challenges the fundamentals of business thinking. It sets out a comprehensive new agenda for establishing the corporation as a unique and powerful force for promoting economic and social wellbeing in its fullest sense - for customers and communities, today and in the future. First Professor and former Dean of the Said Business School in Oxford, Mayer is a leading figure in the global discussion about the purpose and role of the corporation. In Prosperity, he presents a radical and carefully considered prescription for corporations, their ownership, governance, finance, and regulation. Drawing together insights from business, law, economics, science, philosophy, and history, he shows how the corporation can realize its full potential to contribute to economic and social wellbeing of the many, not just the few. Prosperity tells us not only how to create and run successful businesses but also how policy can get us there and fix our broken system.

This book was originally published in 1986. During the decade preceding publication there were a number of significant developments in financial economics and major contributions made both by individuals who could be classified as conventional financial economists and by others who do not fit easily into this category - theoretical microeconomists, public and industrial economists. This volume contains a selection from the papers presented at a conference in Oxford in September 1985 which aimed to bring together a number of the leading participants in this field. The papers in the volume cover a wide range of topics - the efficiency of financial markets, new equity issues, asymmetric corporate taxation and investment, credit rationing, international investment, the foundations of banking theory - but they clearly reflect the main themes in financial economics at the time: the importance of informational asymmetries and of taxation.

Financial intermediation is currently a subject of active research on both sides of the Atlantic. The integration of European financial markets, in particular, highlights several important issues. In this volume, derived from a joint CEPR conference with the Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), leading academics from Europe and North America review 'state-of-the-art' theories of banking and financial intermediation and discuss their policy implications. The principal focus is on the risks of increased competition, the appropriate regulation of banks, and the differences between Anglo-American and Continental European forms of financial markets. Relationship banking, stock markets and banks, banking and corporate control, financial intermediation in Eastern Europe, monetary policy and the banking system, and financial intermediation and growth are also discussed.

Financial intermediation is currently a subject of active research on both sides of the Atlantic. The integration of European financial markets, in particular, highlights several important issues. In this volume, derived from a joint CEPR conference with the Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), leading academics from Europe and North America review 'state-of-the-art' theories of banking and financial intermediation and discuss their policy implications. The principal focus is on the risks of increased competition, the appropriate regulation of banks, and the differences between Anglo-American and Continental European forms of financial markets. Relationship banking, stock markets and banks, banking and corporate control, financial intermediation in Eastern Europe, monetary policy and the banking system, and financial intermediation and growth are also discussed.

Capital markets are affected at least as much as goods markets by the European Community's drive for greater economic integration. The removal of capital controls on 1 July 1990 has far-reaching consequences for the EMS and for cross-border investment, and plans for economic and monetary union foreshadow fundamental upheavals at the heart of the financial system, in central banking and monetary and fiscal policy. This volume reports the proceedings of a conference on European financial integration held in Rome in January 1990, which was organised by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Instituto Mobiliare Italiano. In this volume, leading international experts examine the implications of integration for the structure and regulation of capital markets, the changing relationships between the corporate and banking sectors throughout the Community, the distortionary effects of differing taxation policies among member states and possible means of overcoming them, and alternative routes to European monetary union.

Over the past decade there have been a number of significant developments in financial economics, and major contributions have been made both by individuals who could be classified as conventional financial economists and by others who do not fit easily into this category - theoretical microeconomists, public and industrial economists. This volume contains a selection from the papers presented at a conference in Oxford in September 1985 which aimed to bring together a number of the leading participants in this field. The papers in the volume cover a wide range of topics - Summers on the efficiency of financial markets; Heinkel and Schwartz, and Asquith and Mullins on new equity issues; Green and Talmor on asymmetric corporate taxation and investment; Stiglitz and Weiss on credit rationing; Anderlini on the foundations of banking theory; and Alworth, and Cooper and Kaplanis on aspects of international investment - but they clearly reflect the main themes in financial economics at present: the importance of informational asymmetries and of taxation.

What is business for? Day one of a business course will tell you: it is to maximise shareholder profit. This single idea pervades all our thinking and teaching about business around the world but it is fundamentally wrong, Colin Mayer argues. It has had disastrous and damaging consequences for our economies, environment, politics, and societies. In this urgent call for reform, Prosperity challenges the fundamentals of business thinking. It sets out a comprehensive new agenda for establishing the corporation as a unique and powerful force for promoting economic and social wellbeing in its fullest sense - for customers and communities, today and in the future. First Professor and former Dean of the Said Business School in Oxford, Mayer is a leading figure in the global discussion about the purpose and role of the corporation. In Prosperity, he presents a radical and carefully considered prescription for corporations, their ownership, governance, finance, and regulation. Drawing together insights from business, law, economics, science, philosophy, and history, he shows how the corporation can realize its full potential to contribute to economic and social wellbeing of the many, not just the few. Prosperity tells us not only how to create and run successful businesses but also how policy can get us there and fix our broken system.

In the face of constant change, the nature of business must evolve rapidly if it is to remain relevant to society at large. How then should business change to meet the requirements of the 21st century, in which unbridled globalization and technological advancements are having profound affects on the wellbeing and prosperity of both the people and the planet? The achievement of purpose is the key to successful transformation - not just having a purpose, but making that purpose real at every level of the organization. This is the first book to provide a precise description of how companies can put purpose into practice. Based on a groundbreaking research project undertaken jointly between the Said Business School at the University of Oxford and Mars Catalyst, the think tank of Mars Inc., it provides a highly accessible account of how companies should determine and implement their corporate purposes. It outlines why corporate purpose is so important and how it can both address the major challenges the world faces today and deliver enhanced performance for business. Fourteen detailed case studies illustrate how companies of different sizes, sectors, and geographies have put purpose into practice and their experiences of doing so. These cases give deep insights into the way in which companies can build purposeful businesses, map and shape their ecosystems, identify failures and problems, align management, and create partnerships to deliver their purposes against which they can measure their performance. The achievement of purpose is a very real issue that every responsible leader in business, finance, and business academia must now face. This book will equip executives, managers, investors, and policymakers with the tools that they require to understand how the notion of corporate purpose should become a corporate reality.

The financial crisis of 2007-9 revealed serious failings in the regulation of financial institutions and markets, and prompted a fundamental reconsideration of the design of financial regulation. As the financial system has become ever-more complex and interconnected, the pace of evolution continues to accelerate. It is now clear that regulation must focus on the financial system as a whole, but this poses significant challenges for regulators. Principles of Financial Regulation describes how to address those challenges. Examining the subject from a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective, Principles of Financial Regulation considers the underlying policies and the objectives of regulation by drawing on economics, finance, and law methodologies. The volume examines regulation in a purposive and dynamic way by framing the book in terms of what the financial system does, rather than what financial regulation is. By analysing specific regulatory measures, the book provides readers to the opportunity to assess regulatory choices on specific policy issues and encourages critical reflection on the design of regulation.

The corporation is one of the most important and remarkable institutions in the world. It affects all our lives continuously. It feeds, entertains, houses and, employs us. It generates vast amounts of revenue for those who own it and it invests a substantial proportion of the wealth that we possess. But the corporation is also the cause of immense problems and suffering, a source of poverty and pollution, and its failures are increasing. How is the corporation failing us? Why is it happening? What should we do to restore trust in it? While governments are subject to repeated questioning and scrutiny, the corporation receives relatively little attention. Firm Commitment provides a lucid and insightful account of the role of the corporation in modern society and explains why its problems are growing. It gives a fresh perspective on the crises in financial markets, developing countries, and the environment. Based on decades of analysis and research, it describes a new approach to thinking about the firm which not only stops it destroying us but turns it into the means of protecting our environment, addressing social problems, and creating new sources of entrepreneurship and innovation. It sets out an agenda for converting the corporation into a twenty-first century organization that we will value and trust. It takes you on a journey that starts in the Galapagos, ends in Ancient Egypt, and in the process brings you to a new level of appreciation of the economic world we inhabit.

The development and integration of financial markets is at the forefront of academic and policy debates around the world. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Europe where the integration of financial markets is a primary objective of the European Commission and fully supported by the European Central Bank. This book brings together leading economists from across the world to analyse the central issues in the development and integration of financial markets from a European perspective whilst highlighting their global relevance. Financial Markets and Institutions is a must-have reference for policymakers, financial market practitioners, and graduate students and academics with an interest in this increasingly important area. Each contribution is written in a rigorous but non-technical fashion, drawing on the latest theories and empirical evidence making them accessible to lay readers as well as academic specialists.

Scandals in financial institutions, weakness in the world economy, and volatility in financial markets bring to the fore issues of regulation and consumer protection. This comparative survey of how investors are currently protected in a range of European countries and the USA is set in an accessible theoretical framework. It will be invaluable for academics and students involved in the analysis of financial markets and regulation as well as practitioners in financial institutions and regulatory authorities.

Scandals in financial institutions, weakness in the world economy, and volatility in financial markets bring to the fore issues of regulation and consumer protection. This comparative survey of how investors are currently protected in a range of European countries and the USA is set in an accessible theoretical framework. It will be invaluable for academics and students involved in the analysis of financial markets and regulation as well as practitioners in financial institutions and regulatory authorities.

One of the most enduring legacies of the 1980s has been the programme of privatizations that the Thatcher government set in train in the first half of the decade. Whole sectors of the UK economy which were formerly part of the public sector were sold off to the private sector. Some were bought out by their employees; others were bought by the public at large. Some public services were contracted out to the private sector; others were placed on a more commercial footing. The UK privatization programme had an influence on economic policy throughout the world. Programmes were also initiated in Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, North America, and, most recently, East and Central Europe. The purpose of this book, a companion volume to The Regulatory Challenge by the same editors, is to stand back and examine what has been learnt from the extensive programme of privatization that the UK government has completed, and to consider what aspects of privatization remain to be done. It attempts to evaluate systematically the privatizations that have been undertaken in different sectors of the UK economy over the last ten years. It examines what has happened and why, where the successes and failures have been, what lessons can be learnt for the design of privatization programmes elsewhere, and what the UK government can still usefully do in this area.

This unique and authoritative study of the investment management business focuses on the use of capital requirements for investment managers as a means of investor protection. Commissioned by the Investment Management Regulatory Organization and drawing on extensive discussions with investment managers themselves, it provides an account of this burgeoning sector that is both comprehensive in its coverage and penetrating in its analysis. The authors review the way in which the investment management business is organized and its inherent risks; they examine the causes and incidence of market failures as well as the dangers to investors through mismanagement and malpractice. The book includes an extensive treatment of fraud, with a full listing of fraud cases in the UK since the early 1970s. The report concludes with a summary of the evidence on the nature and scale of the risks faced by investors and recommendations for appropriate forms of protection; and, on the basis of existing regulatory structures in the UK and USA, sets out a proposed structure in accordance with the thrust of the authors' analysis. While specific in its coverage, much of the argument presented here is closely applicable to other financial sectors in which regulation is a crucial issue; and it is especially pertinent to current debates on financial regulation in the run-up to the completion of the European internal market in 1992.

The last decade has witnessed the introduction of an elaborate system of regulation in the UK. This has developed hand in hand with the structural changes in the 1980s, notably the privatization programme and changes in the financial services industries. This book assesses these developments across a number of sectors and offers a range of perspectives for understanding the objectives, mechanisms, and institutions involved.

One of the most enduring legacies of the 1980s has been the programme of privatizations that the Thatcher government set in train, and which has influenced economic policy throughout the world - most recently in Eastern Europe as it moves away from socialism towards capitalism. This book stands back and examines what has been learnt from the privatization programme mnow completed, and considers what remains to be done.