MUCH HAS CHANGED IN THE FIVE DECADES SINCE ECONOMIST MILTON FRIEDMAN’S landmark essay, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits, appeared in The New York Times in 1970. Its thesis—then in the mainstream, but later much derided—argued that business should do business, and government should govern (i.e., collect and spend taxes wisely). It reflected the definition of fiduciary duty at the time, strictly limiting company officers’ and board members’ responsibilities to financial performance. Meanwhile, rules and regulations around environmental matters, labor practices, and such were very lax and limited compared to today’s standards.
Of course, we have since
