Swords Into Dow Shares Book

A provocative critique of corporate governance in the United States that uses the example of defense contracting to challenge the assumptions underlying our current understanding of how and in whose interests corporations should behave.

Booknews

With a legal-institutional method and a programmatic intention, Weber (urban planning and public policy, U. of Illinois-Chicago) examines the post-Cold War restructuring of the defense industry. She argues that the primacy of shareholders in the investment decisions of corporations is unjustified, when other constituents such as the state, workers, and customers, enable the corporate activity and shelter shareholders from financial risk. Many corporations, she says, and especially in the defense industry, receive tax breaks, regulatory relief, and free property from the government, and those public gifts should not simply go into the pockets of private investors and CEOs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)