Legitimacy and Corporate Governance

Abstract

In my remarks this morning, I want to draw attention to growing parallels between corporate governance and state governance, specifically between institutional features that are now becoming considered for corporate America and institutional features that have long been a mainstay of governmental institutions in the United States. Corporate governance, I want to suggest, is becoming structured much more like public government. This structure may well be critical for enhancing trust in corporations and capital markets, but it may come at some cost to other important values. Corporate governance is major issue for society and the economy, so we ought at a minimum to be conscious of the direction corporate governance reforms are heading.