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Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Governance

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  • Pencavel, John H.

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

A worker co-operative is a firm that is owned and managed by those who work in it. This paper provides a selective review of research in economics on worker cooperatives. It concentrates on the volatility of earnings and employment in the co-ops compared with conventional capitalist firms; on the long-term viability of co-ops; on the relative productive efficiency of co-ops; and on problems of democratic governance within co-ops. Using modern empirical methods applied to large numbers of observations, recent research has substantially enhanced our understanding of worker co-ops.

Suggested Citation

  • Pencavel, John H., 2012. "Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Governance," IZA Discussion Papers 6932, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6932
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. 'Why Not Worker Control?'
      by Mark Thoma in Economist's View on 2014-07-20 13:46:53
    2. The power of the 1%
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-03-10 19:35:00
    3. Why not worker control?
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-07-20 17:41:00
    4. Economists vs politicians
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-11-27 21:21:00
    5. Wanted: class consciousness
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-11-23 18:29:00
    6. For worker control
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-12-10 19:57:00
    7. "Aspiration"
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2015-05-09 17:09:00
    8. Bad arguments against Marxism
      by ? in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2016-05-23 17:57:00
    9. Capitalism's bad incentives
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2017-10-07 16:42:26
    10. Ownership and productivity
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2019-11-20 14:12:03
    11. Fiscal conservatism, economic radicalism
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2023-07-19 12:19:03

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dean, Andrés, 2019. "Do successful worker-managed firms degenerate?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 317-329.
    2. Luigi BONATTI & Lorenza A. LORENZETTI, 2018. "Why Wages Tend To Be Lower In Worker‐Owned Firms Than In Investor‐Owned Firms," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(4), pages 563-580, December.
    3. Bonache, Jaime & Zárraga-Oberty, Celia, 2020. "Compensating international mobility in a workers’ cooperative: An interpretive study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    4. Gabriel Burdin, 2012. "Does workers’ control affect firm survival? Evidence from Uruguay," Department of Economics University of Siena 641, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    5. Burdin, Gabriel, 2013. "Are Worker-Managed Firms Really More Likely to Fail?," IZA Discussion Papers 7412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Gabriel Burdín, 2014. "Are Worker-Managed Firms More Likely to Fail Than Conventional Enterprises? Evidence from Uruguay," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(1), pages 202-238, January.
    7. Alves, Guillermo & Burdín, Gabriel & Dean, Andrés, 2016. "Workplace democracy and job flows," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 258-271.
    8. Loek Groot & Daan van der Linde, 2017. "The Labor-Managed Firm: Permanent or Start-Up Subsidies?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 1074-1093, October.
    9. Philip Mellizo & Jeffrey Carpenter & Peter Hans Matthews, 2014. "Workplace democracy in the lab," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 313-328, July.
    10. Lambert, Thomas, 2016. "US Worker Co-Operatives and Their Spans of Management, Decision Making, and Governance: An Exploratory Analysis," MPRA Paper 74816, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Delbono, Flavio & Lanzi, Diego & Reggiani, Carlo, 2023. "Workers’ firm in mixed duopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Derek C. Jones, 2013. "The Ombudsman: Employee Ownership as a Mechanism to Enhance Corporate Governance and Moderate Executive Pay Levels," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 43(6), pages 599-601, December.
    13. Anjel Errasti & Ignacio Bretos & Carmen Marcuello, 2023. "Classifying the degree of cooperative multinationality: Case study of a French multinational cooperative," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(4), pages 1061-1084, December.
    14. Lidia Valiente-Palma & María del Carmen Pérez-González, 2023. "Underemployment due to overeducation: An analysis of worker cooperatives versus conventional firms," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 910-932, August.
    15. Guillermo Alves & Gabriel Burdin & Paula Carrasco & Andrés Dean & Andrés Rius, 2012. "Empleo, remuneraciones e inversión en cooperativas de trabajadores y empresas convencionales: nueva evidencia para Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 12-14, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    16. Franck Bailly & Karine Chapelle & Lionel Prouteau, 2017. "What are the determinants of the pay gap between conventional firms and cooperatives? Evidence from France," Working Papers hal-01455741, HAL.
    17. Lambert, Thomas, 2018. "Big Business and Management: Too Many Bosses and Too Much Pay?," MPRA Paper 86406, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    comparative efficiency; worker cooperatives; viability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms

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