New evidence on wages and employment in worker cooperatives compared with capitalist firms

The potential of co-operatives during the current recession; theorizing comparative advantage

“…Members therefore have more of an interest in making sure the business is governed well. Worker co-operatives, in particular, are able to demonstrate their advantages by laying off fewer workers than their competitors, finding ways to protect jobs and working conditions despite the recession Pencavel 1992, 1994;bonin, Jones and Putterman 1993;burdin and Dean 2009). on the other hand, while there is less pressure to behave like an investor-owned business in the drive to expand and dominate markets, there is relentless pressure to cut costs, to stay efficient and to give value to members so as to ensure loyalty. There is less demand for products and services and so workerowned enterprises may struggle.…”

Cooperativismo, factor empresarial y desarrollo económico: un modelo teórico de enlace

“…Asimismo, la literatura sobre cooperativas señala que éstas desarrollan su actividad productiva en todo tipo de sectores, aunque dependiendo de los territorios se concentran más en unos que en otros (Burdín y Dean, 2009). En consecuencia, la evidencia disponible no permitiría establecer diferencias entre las empresas convencionales y las cooperativas respecto al factor de especialización productiva.…”

The Internal and External Governance of Cooperatives: Membership and Consistency of Values

“…The motivational side of organizations, has been poorly understood by the economic orthodoxy and was rediscovered only recently with the growth of behavioural and experimental economics (Borzaga et al, 2011). The specificity of members' motivations has been thoroughly studied in particular in workers cooperatives, showing that these organisations tend to protect employment to a larger extent than capitalist firms and, to this end, worker members are ready to accept wages that fluctuate more than the wages received by workers employed in capitalist firms (Craig & Pencavel, 1992, 1994Pecavel, et al, 2006;Burdin & Dean, 2009). Consistent attitudes can be found in cooperative banks as well, whereby the original mission tend to be one of providing financial support to small producers, who would otherwise be rationed by commercial banks.…”