The acceptable face of capitalism: law, corporations and economic wellbeing

Abstract

In response to concerns that capitalism yields prosperity only at the cost of rising inequality, this paper draws upon examples from employment law and corporate governance to argue that the legal framework should reflect a broad understanding of economic wellbeing that encompasses both the costs and the benefits of corporate activity. To the extent that economic growth expands the scope of corporate welfare provision for employees in large firms, the preoccupation with distributive matters such as executive pay ratios is misplaced; in this context the ideal of equality matters not for its own sake but more because it offers a means of achieving human flourishing and fuller participation in social and economic life. The paper shows how this insight would help to ease the growing financial pressure on state-guaranteed social security, particularly in the context of increasing numbers of self-employed workers in the gig economy.