63 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
63 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
## Cooperatives
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#### Co-ops are more productive, robust, resistant to price shocks, and increase worker pay and engagement (as opposed to a firm organized by a traditional employer-employee framework). Increased employee engagement in decision-making at all levels is consistently associated with better performance.
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* [Doucouliagos 95](http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Cooperatives/Worker_Participation_and_Productivity-Meta_Analysis.pdf)
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* **Meta-analysis** of 43 studies comparing various forms of worker participation in business
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* Found that “profit sharing, **worker ownership**, and **worker participation in decision making** are all **positively associated with productivity**”
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* These observed correlations are stronger in worker-managed firms than in traditional capitalist firms
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* Bit outdated as it’s from 1995 and only shows correlation, but still useful
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* [Pérotin 15: UK Coop Report](https://www.uk.coop/sites/default/files/uploads/attachments/worker_co-op_report.pdf)
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* HUGE analysis of a large quantity of data on worker cooperatives
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* Worker cooperatives are found to:
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* **be larger** than conventional businesses
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* **survive as well or better** than ther businesses
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* have more **stable employment**
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* Be more **productive** than conventional businesses, with staff working “better and smarter” and production organized more efficiently
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* have **workers retain a larger share** of their profits than other business models
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* [Pérotin 12](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285356456_The_performance_of_worker_cooperatives)
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* The study found **increased productivity** in the case of:
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* Increased **profit sharing** _(note: this may also involve reverse causality, although data on ESOPs seems to thoroughly verify this anyway)_
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* A higher proportion of **employees becoming cooperative member**, thus increasing participation in decision-making (in France and Italy)
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* A greater proportion of **workers on the board** (in the UK)
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* [Williams 07](http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Cooperatives/The_Cooperative_Movement.pdf)
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* After 1 year, 50-60% of corporations fail while **only 10%** of cooperatives do
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* After 5 years, **90% of Co-Ops** remain open while only 3-5% of standard corporations do
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* [Co-op Law](http://www.co-oplaw.org/special-topics/worker-cooperatives-performance-and-success-factors/)
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* Co-ops have been shown multilaterally to be **more resilient** and **less likely to fail** than traditionally-operated businesses
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* Coops also face **unique barriers to entry** which might be mitigated through the **transformation of existing enterprises** into worker’s coops.
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* [Burdín & Dean 09](https://sci-hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596709000560)
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* Economic analysis of capitalist firms vs worker cooperatives in Uruguay from 1996-2005
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* Coops have a greater correspondence between profit increase and **wage increase**
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* Employment in coops is **more resistant to price shocks**
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* **Employment** has a negative correlation with wages for capitalist firms and a **positive correlation with wages** in worker coops
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* [Conte, M. A., & Svejnar, J. 88](https://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/0167-7187(88)90011-2)
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* Worker participation in management seems to **increase technical efficiency**.
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* [Abell 14](https://democracycollaborative.org/content/worker-cooperatives-pathways-scale)
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* Coops make $652 billion in revenue, hold around $3 trillion in assets, and employ nearly one million people in the U.S., showing that **coops are already successfully contributing to the U.S. economy**
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* Data shows that worker coops:
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* can **increase worker incomes by 70-80%**
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* have **9-19% greater levels of productivity**
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* have 45% lower turnover rates
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* are **30% less likely to fail** in the first few years of operation
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* [Craig & Pencavel 95](https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1995/01/1995_bpeamicro_craig.pdf)
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* Study of worker coops in the timber industry of Washington state
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* “What differences we have found imply that **coops are more efficient than the principal conventional firms by between 6 and 14 percent**”
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* [Sabatini et al. 12](http://www.eeri.eu/documents/wp/EERI_RP_2012_10.pdf)
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* Study based on a 2011 questionnaire in Trento, Italy
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* Found that employment in cooperative enterprises **increases trust between workers relative to public and private enterprises**
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* 47.5% increase relative to public enterprises
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* 36.9% increase relative to private enterprises
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* [Park 18](https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ER-06-2017-0137/full/html)
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* In conventional firms, there is a **negative relationship between job demands and worker commitment**
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* This negative relationship was **not found in worker co-ops**
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* [Erdal 12](http://www.oeockent.org/download/cooperatives/journal-of-cooperative-thought-and-practice-vol1-no1.pdf.pdf)
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* Study of three Italian towns of similar demographics, income, and geography
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* The town with the most worker cooperatives experienced the following:
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* **Better mental and physical health**, as well as longer lives
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* Children were less likely to skip school and skipped school less
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* **Less crime, including less domestic violence** and greater feelings of safety.
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* Higher rates of ‘social participation’ (joining clubs and charities, giving blood, voting)
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* **Perception of a more positive society, more supportive personal networks, and more trust in the government**
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* Note: this study fails to prove causation, and only establishes a correlation between coop prevalence and community wellbeing
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