Columnist: In a recent article an economist argues that corporations have no responsibility to society beyond obeying the law and maximizing profit for shareholders. But in a different article the same economist endorses the view that corporations ought to make financial contributions to social programs in the communities in which they are located. Thus the economist is caught in a contradiction. The columnist's argument is questionable because it fails to rule out the possibility that ['corporations make nonfinancial contributions to social programs within their local communities', 'many shareholders of corporations are in favor of their corporations making contributions to community social programs', "financial contributions to community social programs improve a corporation's image in a way that improves its profitability", "a corporation's making financial contributions to community social programs violates no laws"]