Let Shareholders Know How Their Money Is Spent

Editor’s Note: Lucian Bebchuk is Professor of Law, Economics, and Finance at Harvard Law School. Bebchuk served as co-chair of the Committee on Disclosure of Corporate Political Spending, which filed a rulemaking petition concerning political spending, discussed on the Forum here and here. Posts discussing his articles on corporate political spending, Corporate Political Speech: Who Decides?, and Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending, both co-authored with Robert Jackson, are available here.

My most recent New York Times Dealbook column, published today, focuses on the expected SEC consideration of the rulemaking petition urging adoption of rules that would require public companies to disclose information about their political spending. As Robert Jackson and I reported in a recent post, SEC officials indicated last week that the Division of Corporate Finance is currently considering the petition and looking into whether to recommend that the SEC issue such rules.

The column argues that the case for adopting such rules is very strong. In future elections, shareholders of public companies should not be left in the dark on whether and how their money is spent on politics.

The column, titled Let Shareholders Know How Their Money Is Spent, is available here.

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