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Selfish Corporations

Author

Listed:
  • Emanuele Colonnelli
  • Niels Joachim Gormsen
  • Tim McQuade

Abstract

We study how perceptions of corporate responsibility influence policy preferences and the effectiveness of corporate communication when agents have imperfect memory recall. Using a new large-scale survey of U.S. citizens on their support for corporate bailouts, we first establish that the public demands corporations to behave better within society, a sentiment we label “big business discontent.” Using random variation in the order of survey sections and in the exposure to animated videos, we then show that priming respondents to think about corporate responsibility lowers the support for bailouts. This finding suggests that big business discontent influences policy preferences. Furthermore, we find that messages which paint a positive picture of corporate responsibility can “backfire,” as doing so brings attention to an aspect on which the public has negative views. In contrast, reframing corporate bailouts in terms of economic tradeoffs increases support for the policy. We develop a memory-based model of decision-making and communication to rationalize these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuele Colonnelli & Niels Joachim Gormsen & Tim McQuade, 2024. "Selfish Corporations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(3), pages 1498-1536.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:91:y:2024:i:3:p:1498-1536.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdad057
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    Other versions of this item:

    • Emanuele Colonnelli & Niels Joachim Gormsen & Timothy McQuade, 2022. "Selfish Corporations," NBER Working Papers 30576, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Colonnelli, Emanuele & Gormsen, Niels Joachim, 2020. "Selfish Corporations," Working Papers 305, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rossello, Giulia & Martinelli, Arianna, 2023. "The effect of lobbies’ narratives on academics' perceptions of scientific publishing: An information provision experiment," MERIT Working Papers 2023-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Anna Cororaton & Samuel Rosen, 2021. "Public Firm Borrowers of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program [The risk of being a fallen angel and the corporate dash for cash in the midst of COVID]," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 641-693.
    3. Michele Fioretti & Victor Saint-Jean & Simon C Smith, 2022. "The Voice: The Shareholders' Motives Behind Corporate Donations during COVID-19 (former title: Selfish Shareholders: Corporate Donations during COVID-19)," SciencePo Working papers hal-03386585, HAL.
    4. Pedro Bordalo & Giovanni Burro & Katherine Coffman & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2023. "Imagining the Future: Memory, Simulation and Beliefs," Working Papers 701, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Big business; Corporations; Information Experiment; Economic Policies; ESG; Beliefs; Bailouts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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