The first part of the essay addresses the meaning of accountability. It notes that in the case of a corporation, problems of accountability may relate to the relation between owners and managers, to the various positions of employer and employee, or to the relationship between the corporation and the local community or the state. This discussion of the meaning of accountability is followed by a discussion of neoclassical economic and legal representations of the nature of the corporation and of market-oriented solutions to the problem of regulation, particularly of occupational safety and health. These are criticized at some length, and then a model based more upon political economy and sociology is proposed. The model explains that any kind of effective regulation requires a redistribution of powers within the enterprises and between various social classes and social groups; also, the state may need to intervene actively. In the case of occupational safety and health in the United States, effective regulation requires strong trade unions and entrenched workers' rights, the use of administrative sanctions, and of the civil and the criminal courts; further, the state itself may need to assume responsibility over certain production processes. 9 notes