The Form of the Firm

The large thesis of The Form of the Firm is compelling, the writing is brisk, and the argument is grounded in the key works of several disciplines. The book will make a fine sparring partner and resource for the ongoing task of describing and appraising the business corporation -- Mark Hoipkemier, University of Virginia, Review of Politics [a] virtuoso work ... a powerful, grounded call for reform ... This book requires repeated reading. It is dense and deliberate, but those interested in political philosophy and political economy will find it worthy of the investment ... Essential. -- D. C. Jacobs, CHOICE Across ideological lines, political theory about economic questions is often strangely individualistic, imagining a world with consumers, entrepreneurs, workers, the recipients of income checks from the government, but no meso-level institutions, no corporations. Abraham Singer's The Form of the Firm is an outstanding response to this problem. Working at the border of political theory and normative political economy, Singer does something that is rare, valuable, and impressive: he takes seriously the importance and function of the business corporation in the course of developing a critical normative theory of its functioning. This is a decisively important contribution, a book to reckon with. -Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory and Professor of Political Science, McGill University The Form of the Firm is an important intervention in the growing body of literature on the political theory of the corporation. Singer's critical historical overview of leading theories of firm and corporation, from Smith to the Chicago School, is filled with new insights into motivations, underlying logics, and lacunae. In developing his own 'relational' theory of the firm, Singer emphasizes-against reductionist contractarian approaches-the importance of productivity-enhancing social norms within the firm. Singer then uses the presence of such norms to suggest novel ways of bringing corporations into line with liberal democratic standards, within the constraint of economic viability. The work will become a standard reference in argumentation going forward. -David Ciepley, Associate Professor, University of Denver Singer has provided the most comprehensive framing to date of the relevant questions and theoretical underpinnings for a political theory of the firm. He is, throughout, a reliable and witty guide for both political philosophers unfamiliar with theories of the firm in law and economics, on the one hand, and social scientists and lawyers in need of a primer on the latest developments in political philosophy, on the other. -Wayne Norman, Mike & Ruth Mackowski Professor of Ethics, Duke University