Democratizing firms : value creation under shared corporate governance

If democracy is undoubtedly good for political organizations, why it shouldn’t be attractive alsofor economic organizations? Most economists have never taken this question seriously. This is a hard question to answer, indeed. Yet, contrary to the common presumption that the capitalistic mode of corporate ownership and governance is the best suited for generating economic efficiency and ultimately economic benefits to all who have a stake in a firm, the recent economic crisis, if corporate scandals, increasing pay inequality and the fragility of the business sector over the last decade were not enough, urges us to reconsider this belief. This chapter is aimed at delivering an updated picture of the economic, possibly long-term, consequences of shared governance