The Views of Dr Robert Frank on Corporate Social Responsibility

The Views of Dr. Robert Frank on Corporate Social Responsibility

Amanda Bryan

Texas A&M University-Commerce

The Views of Dr. Robert Frank on Corporate Social Responsibility

Dr. Robert H. Frank is a well-known American economist. He currently teaches at Cornell University and writes a weekly economics column in The New York Times. Dr. Frank has used economic theory to promote his views on Corporate Responsibility (CSR). Dr. Frank has written extensively on three major components of Corporate Responsibility: wealth inequality as it relates to the tax structure, how the study of economics changes people’s actions toward the common good, and how emotions and moral feelings can lead corporations to greater profit. These three postulates have established Dr. Frank as one of the leading economic advocates for greater Corporate Responsibility. While Dr. Frank has many detractors, his sound economic analysis has led him to success by promoting CSR.

Dr. Frank’s most recent work has focused on how tax policy and wealth consolidation affect Corporate Social Responsibility. In The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, Robert Frank argues that the economic theories of Adam Smith are no longer adequate to describe our current economy. Instead, he argues that Darwin’s theories of competition provide a more appropriate understanding of the current economy. Frank argues that “the failure to recognize that we live in Darwin's world rather than Smith's is putting us all at risk by preventing us from seeing that competition alone will not solve our problems” (Frank, 2011 pg. 85). Frank lays out the case that Smith's theory of the “invisible hand,” which says that competition channels self-interest for the common good and is probably the most widely cited argument today in favor of unbridled competition and against regulation, taxation, and even government itself, is itself an exception to the general rule of competition. Frank...