cooperative economy

An online panel facilitated by co-op researcher-practitioner Emi Do that brings together presenters from several such projects: CoTech, Exit to Community Collective, Platform Cooperativism Consortium, SPACE4, Start.coop, UnFound Accelerator, and Union Cooperative Initiative. These projects advance democratic business formation and co-op theory-building, and they offer valuable lessons on the promises and challenges of accelerating worker ownership today.

Today I’m talking with Matt Hancock, who’s been heavily involved with the co-operative movement in Emilia Romagna – the region of Italy around Bologna. There’s a huge, very successful co-op sector in ER. I want to try to find out in this interview is why – what’s special about ER, and can it be emulated elsewhere?

What form should member ownership take in a worker cooperative? How is the form of ownership related to the economic viability of the enterprise? How is ownership of equity allocated and measured, what impact does ownership and accumulation of equity have on distribution of surplus? In this chapter, Razeto offers an economic theory of ownership and distribution of surplus in worker enterprises, proposing the issuance of “labor shares” representing individual members’ ownership of equity.

Last week’s seminar with guest speaker Professor Vera Zamagni explored the various forms of value generated by Italian social cooperatives.

There has been an effort to dissociate accumulation from distribution, resulting in a contradictory and confused understanding of the relation between the two in cooperatives, with very serious practical consequences. In this chapter we examine this nexus and all its implications, demonstrating the importance of understanding accumulation as a necessary element of rational economic behavior in cooperative enterprises, and revealing the distortions caused by failing to do so.

Laura Flanders speaks to founder of the Community and Worker Ownership Project Rebecca Lurie, CEO of One Brooklyn Health LaRay Brown, and New York City Council Member Sandy Nurse about the recent enthusiasm surrounding worker cooperatives throughout the country, and what they can offer workers that traditional employment cannot.

Ellis from New York State of Pine discusses the Christmas tree business and how he became a worker-owner.

Reflections on the documentary film FOOD COOP, and the discussion panel that GEO held to talk about the film and the food co-op world.

A theoretical model of the "Labor Enterprise."

Essence, economic objective, and characteristics of the cooperative enterprise.Essence, economic objective, and characteristics of the cooperative enterprise.