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Science vs. Ideology: A Comment on Lynn Stout's New Thinking on "Shareholder Primacy"

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  • Robé Jean-Philippe

    (Ecole de droit de Sciences Po, Paris)

Abstract

I have never met Lynn Stout. Of course, just like any person even remotely interested in corporate governance and US corporate law, I know her insightful writings. But I do not know her personally. I know for a fact, however, that Lynn Stout is a nice person. And an excessively nice person she must be. Her paper on New Thinking on “Shareholder Primacy” talks about the surge of a new paradigm in corporate law. This is an excessively generous thesis. For we are not witnessing the takeover of an old science by a new one explaining facts better than the old stuff. We are witnessing the surge of a scientific analysis of the legal structure of the firm -and of the role of corporations to structure firms- which is replacing an ideology; not a science. This comment will comment on this ideology and the insightful critique developed by Lynn Stout in her paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Robé Jean-Philippe, 2012. "Science vs. Ideology: A Comment on Lynn Stout's New Thinking on "Shareholder Primacy"," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:aelcon:v:2:y:2012:i:2:n:7
    DOI: 10.1515/2152-2820.1060
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    References listed on IDEAS

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