Targeting More Social Problems Requires the Use of More Instruments Instead of Using a Single Instrument to Address Multiple Problems: Do CSR Policies Apply the Tinbergen Rule?

To tackle the urgent social and environmental problems facing our societies, it is tempting to use all possible solutions, including, notably, shifting legal rules away from the content they might otherwise have to make them ‘socially responsible’ or ‘sustainable’. For example, we might enforce competition rules less vigorously in cases of price-fixing agreements between competitors that pursue sustainable development goals, or perhaps, we could allow corporate directors to violate the fiduciaryFiduciary Duties (Rolf H. Weber) (Dawn Zaiter) (Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe) duty they have toward shareholders when they make corporate decisions that are in the best interest of other stakeholders. The possibilities for using legal rules to address social problems are endless. However, this approach—using a single legal instrument to achieve multiple purposes—goes against the Tinbergen Rule, which says that each objective must be followed by at least one instrument. The use of a single legal instrument to address multiple problems causes problems of ineffectivenessIneffectiveness (Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe) and indeterminacyIndeterminacy (Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe), a conundrum for which the Tinbergen RuleTinbergen rule (Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe) provides a happy way out.