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When this book was first published in 1990, there were massive economic changes in the East and significant economic challenges to the West. This critical analysis of democratic theory discusses the principles and forces that push both socialist and capitalist economies toward a common ground of workplace democratization.
This book is a comprehensive approach to the theory and practice of the "Democratic firm" - from philosophical first principles to legal theory and finally to some of the details of financial structure. The argument for economic democracy supports private property, free markets and entrepreneurship for instance, but fundamentally it replaces the employer/employee relationship with democratic membership in the firm.
For students, teachers, policy makers and others interested in the application of democracy to the workplace, this book will serve as a manifesto and a standard reference on the topic.
List of contents
Introduction; Part 1: Theory of the Democratic Firm; 1. The Labor Theory of Property 2. Democratic Theory 3. The Democratic Firm; Part 2: Worker Ownerships in America and Europe; 4. Worker Cooperatives 5. Employee Stock Ownership Plans 6. ESOP Analysis and Evaluation 7. Model of a Hybrid Democratic Firm; Part 3: Enterprise Reform in the Socialist World; 8. Enterprise Reform in Yugoslavia and China 9. Reforms in the USSR, Hungary and Poland 10. Analysis of the Socialist Enterprise Reforms; Conclusion; References; Index
About the author
David Ellerman
Summary
When this book was first published in 1990, there were massive economic changes in the East and significant economic challenges to the West. This critical analysis of democratic theory discusses the principles and forces that push both socialist and capitalist economies toward a common ground of workplace democratization.
