Corporate social responsibility
• Corporations also guide their behaviors
following standards of social behavior (in
addition to profit and government laws)
• Stakeholders
• Utilitarian perspective: Allocative
efficiency
• Rights view: Golden rule
11:30 class
1:00 class
Chapter 7: business, interest
groups, and political influence
• Tactics and practices on how public policy
gets done.
• In comparison with the market we expect
more cooperation instead of competition
between groups and individuals
The public interest
• It is an abstraction about what advances the
welfare of the population.
• People defend or oppose policies in the name of
the public interest.
• The public interest cannot be found by adding
up private interests to find the most widely
acceptable alternative.
• Policy making can become a question of might
more than right, of who gets to control the policy
agenda.
Group based politics
• Most of the time, people get involved only
when angry
• There are many interest groups working to
influence the policy making process
• Interest group competition
• Narrow interests competing
Types of interest groups
• Business
– Large corporations independently. Small
companies and corporations through alliances
– Peak association: general purpose business
group
– Trade association
• Workers
• Public interest
Is business on top?
• More than in other countries
• Companies have money
• It is cheaper to organize smaller than
larger groups
• But interest of corporations are
fragmented
• Most likely in narrow questions that attract
little public attention
Tactics: Public issues management
• Public communication
• Public policy research institutes or think
tanks
• Philanthropy
• Lobbying
The mechanics of lobbying
• Having information that elected officials
and their staff want or need
• Campaign donations
The information campaign
• Either behind close doors and increasingly
through public grassroots organizing
campaigns.
• Lobbying would be OK if lobbying groups
were really fragmented and there was
competition.
Campaign donations
• Directly to candidates rather limited.
• Independent expenditures
Interest groups “quiz”
• Which one is the phony one?