Quote of the day: shareholder value and economists

A book by Lynn Stout

From a fascinating long article about the genesis of high executive pay in the United States, a quote from French financial economist Jean-Charles Rochet:

“Everyone knows that corporations are not just cash machines for their shareholders, but that they also provide goods and services for their consumers, as well as jobs and incomes for their employees. Everyone, that is, except most economists.”

We have written at length about the shareholder value movement, which has been one of the driving forces behind aggressive tax avoidance.