The Regulation of the Finance-Industry Relations: Responsible or Reasonable Capitalism?

Following the excess of financial capitalism, the SRC (social responsibility of the company) would represent a potential mode of regulation for a “responsible capitalism”. Our article aims at discussing this thesis from the analyses of J.R. Commons, who proposed a model of regulation of the “banker capitalism” at the end of the xix^th century and the beginning of the xx^th century in the United States. This model called “reasonable capitalism” articulates the industrial and financial dimensions through the joint consideration of Law and ethics. The “reasonable capitalism” can be thought as a model of elaboration of economic institutions based on a process of collective bargaining between actors where public authorities play a role of arbitration. We will show to which extend the notion of “reasonable capitalism” is preferable to the SRC’s approach.