We build a model of worker interdependence in which two workers can either compete or cooperate and compare performance under either scenario to that of a single worker working in isolation. We show that whilst competition unequivocally reduces performance, cooperation may raise or lower...

We conduct an artefactual field experiment to study whether the individual preferences and propensity to cooperate of temporary workers differ from permanent contract workers. We find that temporary and permanent contract workers have different other-regarding preferences, but display similar...

Purpose – In recent years, an increasing interest in the participative practices of the workpeople in their companies has taken place in the European Union. Taking advantage of this situation, the purpose of this paper is to show additional evidence of the benefits from companies with majority...

The purpose of this paper is to delve into three side-arguments or themes about democratic enterprises (as opposed to considering first principles). Approach: 1) The first theme is the question of capital structure where labor-managed firms are often pictured as having "horizon problem." Yet...

Using representative data from the IAB Establishment Panel, we show that employees in establishments with active owners are less likely to introduce a works council. Moreover, we show that, in case of an introduction, the new works council is less likely to survive if active owners are present....

The phenomenon of ERTs (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores) in Argentina has gained popularity since the financial crisis of 2001-2002. The resulting drastic drop in gross national product, the high inflation rates, and the increased rates of unemployment and poverty reflected serious...

In this paper attempt has been made to explain the association between co-determination and the competitiveness of small firms. The sample consists of 54 small firms (up to 50 employees) from R.Macedonia. Hypothesis set is that employee participation in the decision making process...

Unlike previous empirical work concerning investment behavior and the determinants of liquidity constraints, we use a switching regression framework when sample separation is unknown and endogenous and firms are assumed to operate either in the financially constrained or in the financially...

This paper argues that international trade should affect local organization of production in a systematic way. By using the standard Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model we show that the export sector is more likely to demonstrate fragmentation, entrepreneurship and outsourcing compared to the...

Standard economic theory predicts that the accumulation of capital by means of indivisible reserves would lead to underinvestment and undercapitalization due to the truncated temporal horizon of worker-members in cooperatives (the so-called “Furubotn-Pejovich effect”). An inefficiently low...