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Freedom of Choice in the Production Sphere: The Capitalist and the Self-managed Firm

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  • Ernesto Screpanti

Abstract

A formula for measuring freedom of choice in the production sphere is proposed. Then a capitalist firm and a worker self-managed firm are compared in terms of freedom distribution. It is shown that the workers have little freedom, if any at all, in a capitalist firm, whilst the capitalist enjoys a great deal of freedom. In a self-managed firm, on the other hand, the amount of freedom enjoyed by the workers is positive and often even greater than that of the capitalist. The analysis is further developed by the introduction of asymmetric information. It is argued that, based on plausible hypotheses of monitoring costs, the difference between the amount of freedom enjoyed by self-managed workers and that enjoyed by the capitalist increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernesto Screpanti, 2011. "Freedom of Choice in the Production Sphere: The Capitalist and the Self-managed Firm," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 267-279, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:23:y:2011:i:2:p:267-279
    DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2011.561562
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bruno Jossa & Gaetano Cuomo, 1997. "The Economic Theory of Socialism and the Labour-managed Firm," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1091.
    2. Ernesto Screpanti, 2007. "Libertarian Communism," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-59647-4, September.
    3. Chong-en Bai & Chenggang Xu, 1995. "Does Employee Ownership Improve Incentives for Efforts," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 303., Boston College Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ernesto Screpanti, 2015. "Karl Marx on wage labour: From natural abstraction to formal subsumption," Department of Economics University of Siena 720, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    2. Emilio Carnevali & André Pedersen Ystehede, 2023. "Is socialism back? A review of contemporary economic literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 239-270, April.
    3. Erkan Gürpinar, 2013. "Notes on Institutional Complementarities and Organizational Forms," Department of Economics University of Siena 678, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. Tortia, Ermanno Celeste, 2019. "Employment protection regimes in worker co-operatives: dismissal of worker members and distributive fairness," MPRA Paper 94536, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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