New Books Network Colin Mayer, "Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Jan 22, 2026
Colin Mayer, Emeritus Professor of Management Studies at Oxford, shares insights from his book on how capitalism can be reformed to better address global crises. He discusses how corporate purpose became superficial and challenges big tech's dual role in creating and solving problems. Mayer emphasizes the need for profit to come from resolving issues, not causing them. He advocates for using public procurement to enforce accountability and highlights long-term ownership structures as essential for sustainable business practices. An inspiring call for systemic change!
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Profit Without Harm As Core Purpose
- Businesses should follow a 'profit without harm' principle as their core purpose.
- Firms must profit from solving problems, not creating them, to avoid a race to the bottom.
Magnificent Seven: Solve And Harm
- Colin Mayer uses Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook as examples of firms that solved major problems but also created harms.
- He contrasts companies that acknowledge and remediate harms with those, like Facebook/Meta, that largely deny responsibility.
Combine Regulation With Positive Incentives
- Combine 'sticks' (regulation) with 'carrots' (incentives) because regulation alone won't align firms.
- Create legal and economic incentives so firms internalize the costs of harms they create.
