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52 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 641 (2019-2020)
Codetermination and ESG: Viable Alternatives to Shareholder Primacy?

handle is hein.journals/nyuilp52 and id is 645 raw text is: 






        CODETERMINATION AND ESG: VIABLE
    ALTERNATIVES TO SHAREHOLDER PRIMACY?


                     By  PIERRE  J. ALLEGAERT*

    I.  INTRODUCTION ..................................            642
    II. CODETERMINATION ..............................          647
        A.   A  Comparative  Example:   Codetermination  in
             Germany   ....................................     648
        B.   Previous Attempts  at Codetermination   in the
             United  States.    ............................ 653
        C.   Impact  of Codetermination................... 655
             1.   Theoretical Discussions .................. 656
             2.  Empirical  Observations  .................... 661
   III. THE   RISE OF  ESG          ......................... 665
        A.   Development   of ESG  Measures  ................      666
        B.   Levels of Adoption.      ....................... 670
        C.   Impact  of ESG       ........................... 672
             1.   Theoretical Discussions ................... 673
             2.  Empirical  Observations.................. 676
   IV.  CONCLUSIONS AND PREDICTIONs .................              679

        In 2018, in response to growing concerns over corporate wealth, wage
    stagnation, and income inequality, Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed a
    bill that would require U.S. companies with more than one billion dollars in
    annual  revenue to obtain federal corporate charters. Perhaps the most
    dramatic requirement of this proposed federal law is that it would mandate
    that at least forty percent of the board members of a corporation subject to the
    law be elected by employees. As this note will show, the proposal would depart
    significantly from the recent history of U.S. corporate law. Over the past few
    years, however, US. corporations have been adopting their own internal
    changes to ensure greater representation of stakeholder interests-those of
    employees, customers, and neighbors, as well as other constituencies-in
    corporate decision making within a framework commonly referred to as ESG
    (Environmental, Social, and  Governance). This  note provides a
    comparative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of board
    codetermination, largely through discussion of its historical existence under
    German  law, and ESG in order to determine whether government-enforced

    * J.D. cum laude and McKay Scholar 2019, New York University School of
Law; M.A. 2016, Universittt Leipzig; B.A. with Distinction 2014, Stanford Uni-
versity. I would like to thank Professor Ed Rock, whose seminar on corporate
governance allowed this note to take shape, and the editors of the Journal of
International Law and Politics for their diligent work.

                                  641


Imaged with Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics

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