Social Goals in the Theory of the Firm: A Systems Theory View

Drawing on Luhmannian social systems theory, this article revisits the single- versus multiple-objective debate on the theory of the firm. Firms are conceptualized as complexity-reducing systems structurally coupled with potentially risky environments, and profit-maximization is considered as a complexity reduction strategy for making sense of these environments. Whereas single-objective approaches reflect cases when environmental risks do not materialize into corporate sustainability problems, multiple-objective approaches address these problems by increasing the corporation’s environmental responsiveness beyond profit-maximization. Our systems-theoretic framework therefore identifies the common ground between the two approaches and draws attention to the circumstances under which they can claim validity.</p

Complex Calculations: How Drug Use During Pregnancy Becomes a Barrier to Prenatal Care

Pregnant women who use drugs are more likely to receive little or no prenatal care. This study sought to understand how drug use and factors associated with drug use influence women’s prenatal care use. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups were conducted with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of low-income women using alcohol and drugs in a California county. Women using drugs attend and avoid prenatal care for reasons not connected to their drug use: concern for the health of their baby, social support, and extrinsic barriers such as health insurance and transportation. Drug use itself is a barrier for a few women. In addition to drug use, women experience multiple simultaneous risk factors. Both the drug use and the multiple simultaneous risk factors make resolving extrinsic barriers more difficult. Women also fear the effects of drug use on their baby’s health and fear being reported to Child Protective Services, each of which influence women’s prenatal care use. Increasing the number of pregnant women who use drugs who receive prenatal care requires systems-level rather than only individual-level changes. These changes require a paradigm shift to viewing drug use in context of the person and society and acceptance of responsibility for unintended consequences of public health bureaucratic procedures and messages about effects of drug use during pregnancy

In search for rules that secure gains from cooperation: the heuristic value of social dilemmas for normative institutional economics

Social dilemma, Institutional economics, Normative economics, Policy advice, Labour market, Rural credit market, D02, D63, D74,