Over the past decade, scandals involving nonprofit boards and conflicts of interest have been the subject of considerable public attention. The resulting bad publicity, Congressional hearings, and calls for reform have failed to mitigate the problem. In 2009 alone the country witnessed several...

Fiduciary duty law seeks to minimize agency costs that occur when the interests of the agent and principal diverge. That law is context specific: the substance depends upon the objectives of the fiduciary relationship and the degree to which other forces, such as markets and social norms, help...