The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibilty

This is an excellent book, one that should be read and discussed by all interested in the CSR movement. --Harry Glasbeek, Osgoode Hall Law School, Canadian Business Law Journal

The study is well written and empirically based, with annotated notes. A valuable, timely volume on an important business issue. Highly recommended. --L. J. Cumbo, Emory and Henry College, CHOICE

Vogel knows a lot about the debate over corporate social responsibility (CSR), having been a part of the conversation for many years. His authoritative view is balanced by his evenhanded reliance on empirics when making suggestions about the best ways to improve social conditions through business. -- orgtheory.net , 8/8/2006

In engaging it with intelligence, precision, and craft, he has advanced significantly the debate on corporate social responsibility by setting the direction in which it needs to go. --Tom De Luca, Fordham University, Perspectives on Politics

For my money, however, the clearest thinking on the subject is found in a new book by David Vogel...In 'The Market for Virtue, ' published by the Brookings Institution Press, Vogel finds that good corporate citizenship is neither necessary nor sufficient for business success. --Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post , 10/5/2005

Burns like a shot of bourbon going down. --Jennifer Weeks, Grist Magazine , 11/15/2005

Gives a succinct oversight of the main issues involved in the conept of corporate social responsibility. -- Global Catholic News , 11/19/2005

Vogel raises a number of excellent points on the present and future of CSR and explains the balancing act governments and corporations must perform to enable social change. --Manda Salls, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge , 1/16/2006

A sober review of the field. --Simon Caulkin, Observer , 10/29/2006

CEOs wanting to find a lucid and nuanced discussion of the benefits of limits of CSR would do well to look at Vogel's analysis in his book The Market for Virtue. -- CEOFORUM Group

Vogel has done a good job in reviewing an impressive number of publications related to CSR and in analyzing their contents, which could be very useful for many readers. --Domenec Mele, University of Navarra, Journal of Markets & Morality

This book is by far the most systematic and balanced analysis of corporate social responsibility as a means for firms to create social value beyond their immediate economic functions. It carefully examines not only the opportunities but also the limits of CSR in the absence of explicit regulations. The study combines sound logic with illustrative cases, and advances the sophistication of the CSR debate considerably. --John G. Ruggie, Harvard University, co-architect of UN Global Compact

A useful corrective to the view that CSR alone is the full answer to social problems. -- Business Ethics

David Vogel brings a refreshing breath of fresh air and objective reporting to a polarized debate. For those who are not already familiar with CSR debates, this book provides a superb introduction, with abundant references to the claims and hypotheses of the advocates, empirical data with which those claims and hypotheses can be tested, and statistical evidence and case studies.... Vogel has made an important contribution and has advanced scholarship in this realm with his book. --Robert N. Stavins, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Environment

Offers a middle ground between the cheerleaders for corporate social responsibility and the doubters. --Caroline Preston, The Chronicle of Philanthropy , 12/8/2005

This is a smartly written, very thoughtful book that takes a balanced view of a major corporate development and puts its various facets in sharp perspective. --Jeffrey Marshall, Financial Executive

For a level-headed survey of the evidence, I recommend The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility...In a world filled with hot air on the subject, it is refreshing to find such a clear-and, at less than 200 pages, concies- assessment of CSR's pros and cons. --Simon London, Financial Times , 11/27/2005

An absolute must-read for anyone following the CSR debate. --Leon Gettler, The Age , 5/24/2006

A valuable analysis and summary of the massive literature on 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR). --William A. Niskanen, Regulation

David Vogel has written a valuable analysis and summary of the massive literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR). --William A. Niskanen, Cato Institute, Regulation

The Market for Virtue ought to be required reading for anybody who cares about making corporations more responsible -- The Corporate Reform Weekly , 1/23/2006

The Market for Virtue offers a concise and engaging portrait of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) works in practice and why. --Isaac Post, AFF's Brainwash , 5/21/2006

Until now, corporate social responsibility has been a term in search of meaning. In The Market for Virtue , David Vogel not only defines it but gives a revealing insight into its strengths and weaknesses. Here is the definitive guide to what corporate social responsibility can and cannot accomplish in a modern capitalist economy. --Robert B. Reich, Brandeis University, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor

Although there is clearly a market for virtue, demand and supply are out of sync. David Vogel provides needed clarity about the costs, benefits, ambiguities, and potential of corporate social responsibility. This comprehensive, well-written, and well-researched book is useful to CSR practitioners, other executives, policymakers, scholars and others seeking new insights into the complex market for corporate social responsibility. --Susan Ariel Aaronson, Kenan Institute at the University of North Carolina

David Vogel is the Solomon Lee Professor of Business Ethics at the Haas School of Business and professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Barriers or Benefits? Regulation in Transatlantic Trade (Brookings, 1998); Kindred Strangers: The Uneasy Relationship between Politics and Business (Princeton, 1996); and Trading Up: Consumer and Environmental Regulation in a Global Economy (Harvard, 1995).