Why People Have Difficulty Seeing That Capitalism Can Be Redesigned
Reference code: C26-07 This commentary is part two of a two-part set of commentaries that examines capitalism design. One of the most persistent obstacles to thinking seriously about economic reform is not that people have carefully considered different ways of structuring capitalism and rejected them. Most people have never been asked to consider that question. […]
The 24th Thing They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism: Capitalism Itself Can Be Redesigned
Reference code: C26-06 This commentary is part one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines capitalism design. Ha-Joon Chang’s 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism challenges a deceptively simple assumption: that capitalism is a fixed economic system whose institutions follow naturally from markets themselves. Across the book, Chang shows instead that capitalism […]
The Seller’s Last Question: What Happens to the Employees?
Reference code: C26-05 La-Z-Boy, Foreign Competition, and the Succession-Planning Case for a CCE When the owner of a successful manufacturing company begins planning for succession, the discussion quickly acquires its own vocabulary. The advisers speak of valuation, financing, taxes, representations, indemnities, working capital, and the quality of the prospective buyer. Those questions matter. A seller […]
Why Commons Capitalism Matters
Why Commons Capitalism Matters Commons Capitalism is not important merely because it is non-confiscatory and non-cohort-limited. It is important because those features may make Commons Capitalism capable of doing what most alternative enterprise systems cannot: correct or ameliorate capitalism’s largest structural defects — concentrated wealth accumulation and the reduced distribution of enterprise wealth to workers […]
Worker Democracy, Beneficiary Capture, and Intergenerational Stewardship in Commons Capitalism
Reference code: C26-03 Commons Capitalism may incorporate worker representation within governance structures, but Commons Capitalism cannot permit any present beneficiary class, including current workers, to exercise decisive control over surplus allocation. This position is often misunderstood because it can superficially resemble anti-worker or anti-democratic arguments. In reality, the issue is structural rather than moral. The […]
Calvinism, Capitalism, and Commons Capitalism: Moral Legitimacy, Surplus, and the Politics of Accumulation
Reference code: C26-02 One of the most important historical contributions of Calvinism to capitalism was not merely economic discipline or work ethic. The deeper contribution was moral legitimacy. Calvinist moral psychology helped construct a framework through which private accumulation could be understood not only as lawful, but as morally justified. That distinction matters because markets alone […]
A Keynesian Critique of Commons Capitalism
Reference code: C25-20 Why Keynes Would Pay Attention John Maynard Keynes would not have approached Commons Capitalism as a moral manifesto. He would have approached it as a machine: Does it keep employment high, keep investment steady, and keep the economy from falling into avoidable slumps? From that angle, Commons Capitalism is immediately interesting because […]
Commons Capitalism and Ixtlán as “Market Enterprise Without Private Residual Claimants”
Reference code: C25-19 Ixtlán de Juárez is an Indigenous community in Oaxaca, Mexico, frequently discussed as an example of a high-functioning communal commons that operates sophisticated market-facing enterprises. The community is widely associated with community forestry and with operating commercial ventures connected to forest management and value-added production. The point for comparative purposes is not […]
How Reserves and Funds Protect Workers in a Downturn
Reference code: C25-15 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines worker precarity in down economies. What “Reserves and Funds” Mean in Practice Reserves and internal funds reduce precarity only when they operate as pre-positioned commitments rather than discretionary gestures. The practical question is not whether the system has money. The […]
Durable Worker Security in Economic Downturns
Reference code: C25-14 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines worker precarity in down economies. Why Downturns Turn Jobs into Precarity Economic downturns translate quickly into worker precarity because the employment relationship in the United States is often the gateway to stability rather than merely a source of wages. The […]