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The Independent Review|Summer 2025

When Is Corporate Social Responsibility Theft?

Over the past few decades, socioeconomic thinking has shifted away from capitalism’s traditional narrow emphasis on corporate profits and toward a more purposive approach characterized by a new mantra: “People over profit” (Partridge 2015). The underlying message here is that serving society is more important than extracting wealth from society. Scholars have uncovered ample evidence that there is no real trade-off in actuality, as firms increase profits by doing social good (Falck and Heblich 2007; Harrison et al. 2010; Jones et al. 2018). Stakeholders, including customers, employees, financiers, suppliers, and communities, tend to support and invest in firms that “do good.” Thus, stakeholder theory suggests that firms perform worse when pursuing profit maximization and better when pursuing a stakeholder strategy of corporate activism under the label corporate social responsibility…

When Is Corporate Social Responsibility Theft?
The Independent Review|Summer 2025

Celebrating Thirty Years of The Independent Review

As we embark on our fourth decade, we’ve taken a moment to refresh the look and feel of The Independent Review with a cleaner, more contemporary aesthetic on the cover and within. You’ll find easier navigation and improved readability, while the journal’s rich history and commitment to intellectual excellence continue uncompromised. The Independent Review confidently steps into the future, blending the best of tradition and modernity to bring thoroughly researched, peerreviewed scholarship of the highest caliber to readers who prize liberty. Next year, to mark this anniversary, we will publish a collection of the journal’s best—as selected by its co-editors (Christopher Coyne, Diana Thomas, Greg Robson, and myself), in consultation with our associate editors, contributing editors, and board of advisors. The runaway top choice was published in the journal’s first…

The Independent Review|Spring 2025

The Nuclear Ratchet: Crisis, Leviathan, and Atomic Weapons

In October 2023 the Biden administration announced plans for a new nuclear weapon. The new bomb, known as the B61-13, will have a maximum yield of 360 kilotons (the equivalent force of detonating almost 800,000 pounds of TNT). For perspective, the atomic weapon used in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 had a yield of 15 kilotons (Kristensen and Korda 2023). Citing a “rapidly evolving security environment,” the Department of Defense (DOD) stated the new weapon would provide “the President with additional options” (U.S. Department of Defense 2023a). With continued nuclear development by the North Korean regime, concerns over a Chinese nuclear stockpile estimated to be 500 weapons strong (U.S. Department of Defense 2023b, viii), as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and de-ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (Kuramitsu 2023),…

The Nuclear Ratchet: Crisis, Leviathan, and Atomic Weapons