Lynn Stout

Lynn Stout is the Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Business Law at Cornell Law School. Professor Stout is an internationally-recognized expert in corporate governance, financial regulation, and moral behavior.

How the Dominant Business Paradigm Turns Nice People into Psychopaths

Most of us are not conscienceless psychopaths but when we make investing decisions we often act as if we are.

By Lynn Stout Note from the editor: Sadly, Professor Lynn Stout died on April 16, 2018 after a long struggle with cancer. We’re honored that Lynn supported the mission of Evonomics and we believe the best […]

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Why Wall Street Isn’t Useful for the Real Economy

It’s time to challenge the idea that Wall Street trading helps allocate society’s resources more efficiently

By Lynn Stout Bank executives frequently proclaim that Wall Street is vital to the nation’s economy and performs socially valuable services by raising capital, providing liquidity to investors, and ensuring that securities are priced accurately […]

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How Economists Turned Us Blind to Our Own Goodness

Cultivating conscience: how good laws make good people

By Lynn Stout What’s the best way to get people to behave themselves? Legal and policy experts often assume people are basically selfish creatures who respond only to punishments and rewards, and who can’t be […]

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The Dumbest Business Idea Ever. The Myth of Maximizing Shareholder Value

The dominant business philosophy debunked

By Lynn Stout By the end of the 20th century, a broad consensus had emerged in the Anglo-American business world that corporations should be governed according to the philosophy often called shareholder primacy. Shareholder primacy […]

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