"Society's and law‐makers' demands for individual and corporate social responsibility as an alternative response to market and redistributive failures have recently become more prominent. Certainly, calls for people to contribute time and money to good causes have existed throughout history and in all societies, from Antiquity to, say, eighteenth century Quakers' and Mennonites' refusal to invest in weapons and slavery.... the movement is gaining momentum, especially with the empowerment of civil society... and the equitable‐trade/responsible‐investment movement. A variety of factors probably combine to account for this trend: (i) social responsibility is likely to be a normal good; (ii) information about companies' practices throughout the world has become much more accessible and quick to travel; (iii) the scope of environmental and social externalities exerted by multinationals in less developed, more laxly regulated countries is likely to have expanded in pace with globalization; (iv) the long‐run cost of atmospheric pollution (e.g. global warming), or at least the public's awareness of it, has risen significantly."