Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

Publication Title

Florida State University Business Review

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Fla. St. U. Bus. Rev. 1

Volume

19

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

50

Abstract

This Article examines the fiduciary duties of for-profit managers in modern liberal society. To arrive at the right "mix" of these duties, it compares the fiduciary duties implied by a standard descriptive model of our society with two competing normative models: Lockean libertarianism on the "right" and neo-classical republicanism on the "left." This comparison shows that all three versions of liberalism, even the one with a Lockean nightwatchman state, require far more extensive duties than we now expect, including a professionalization of management itself. And it shows that the version of liberalism with the most expansive state, neo-classical republicanism, requires the most appealing set of for-profit fiduciary duties. More basically, it concludes that what makes this latter set most appealing is that we ourselves are evaluating it from the perspective it recommends for for-profit managers: what is best, by our own best lights, for society as a whole.

Rights

© 2020 Rob Atkinson.

Comments

Originally published in Florida State University Business Review.

Faculty Biography

https://law.fsu.edu/faculty-staff/robert-atkinson

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