In an article in the NZZ of April 26, 2014, the editor Andreas Uhlig reported that Andrew Haldane, executive director of the Bank of England, has criticized the foundations of contemporary economy fundamentally. Haldane stated that “the unrestrained self-interest of individuals and companies, greed and unrestricted competition… have harmed society and made it poorer”. He made a case for “rethinking some of the central components of contemporary economy”. This would lead to a redefinition of the basic assumptions and insights of economic theory, and it would also have far-reaching consequences on the level of individual companies and for the Theory of the Firm.
This critique, formulated by such a renowned figure, is of great interest for our institute, since we have aligned our own research of over ten years towards such a critique of the basic assumptions of the Theory of the Firm and of corporate strategy.
