David Ellerman
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 374810 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | David Ellerman |
| NOMBRES | David |
| APELLIDO | Ellerman |
| FIRMA | ELLERMAN D |
| AFILIACIONES | University of California, Riverside |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5718-618X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 31 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 51 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 31 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1975 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
À propos des entreprises démocratiques
Cet article poursuit trois objectifs : (a) décrire brièvement la théorie de l’entreprise démocratique, (b) présenter les problèmes pratiques rencontrés dans de nombreuses structures juridiques visant à mettre en place une entreprise détenue par ses salariés, principalement les plans d’actionnariat salarié ( Employee Stock Ownership Plans , ESOP) aux États-Unis et les fiducies d’actionnariat salarié ( Employee Ownership Trusts , EOT) au Royaume-Un…
Is “capitalism” a misnomer
The name “capitalism” derives from Marx’s false analogy between medieval land ownership and the “ownership of the means of production.” However, unlike medieval land, capital goods can be rented out, e.g., by Frank Knight’s entrepreneur, and then the capital owner does not hold those management or product rights. What then is the characteristic institution in our civilization? It is the voluntary renting of workers. What then is the relationship …
Fallacies about Corporations
This article comments on Isabelle Ferreras's “Democratizing the Corporation.” The focus is on the conceptual framing, which arguably contains a number of problems that are quite common on the left and are thus doubly deserving of commentary and explanation
The Democratic Worker-Owned Firm
When this book was first published in 1990, there were massive economic changes in the East and significant economic challenges to the West. This critical analysis of democratic theory discusses the principles and forces that push both socialist and capitalist economies toward a common ground of workplace democratization. This book is a comprehensive approach to the theory and practice of the "Democratic firm" – from philosophical first principle…
Quantum mechanics over sets
Rethinking Common Versus Private Property
The Commons/Green Movement seems to have accepted that the current system is based on the principles of private property, and then has juxtaposed the notion of common property to private property. In fact, the current system is based on violations of the principle on which private ownership is supposed to rest, namely, the principle of people getting the fruits of their labor. The Commons Movement should critique the current system as an abuse of…
Does classical liberalism imply democracy
There is a fault line running through classical liberalism as to whether or not democratic self-governance is a necessary part of a liberal social order. The democratic and non-democratic strains of classical liberalism are both present today—particularly in the United States. Many contemporary libertarians and neo-Austrian economists represent the non-democratic strain in their promotion of non-democratic sovereign city-states (start-up cities o…
The DNA of Enterprise
The main training grounds for entrepreneurial, technical, and business capacities are existing businesses. There are two ways that this training can lead to new growth-just as there are two ways that existing biological DNA can lead to the growth of bio-mass, namely, (1) existing organisms getting bigger or (2) by spinning out offspring who in turn can spin out more offspring. Where growth has been vibrant, e.g., Silicon Valley, it has followed t…
On a fallacy in the Kaldor–Hicks efficiency–equity analysis
Comment on Ramon Flecha and Ignacio Santa Cruz. The Priority of Labor and Capital Accounts
Two aspects of the fine Flecha-Cruz paper can be usefully elaborated. The Mondragon cooperatives differ not only from capitalist firms but also from most other cooperatives in the doctrine of the 'priority of labor over capital' which means that the people working in any sort of cooperative will be members and will not be rented as employees. Also the Mondragon system of internal capital accounts solves the equity-structure problem that has plagu…
Marxism as a capitalist tool
Inalienable Rights
Liberal-contractarian philosophies of justice see the unjust systems of slavery and autocracy in the past as being based on coercion—whereas the social order in modern democratic market societies is based on consent and contract. However, the ‘best’ case for slavery and autocracy in the past were consent-based contractarian arguments. Hence, our first task is to recover those ‘forgotten’ apologia for slavery and autocracy. To counter those consen…
Counting distinctions
On the Role of Capital in “Capitalist” and in Labor-Managed Firms
This article outlines the “fundamental myth” about the structure of property rights in a capitalist economy, namely the idea that being the residual claimant in a productive opportunity is part of a bundle of property rights known as the “ownership of the firm.” Residual claimancy is contractually determined so there is no such “ownership.” The fundamental myth exposes a basic fallacy in capital theory that has hitherto escaped attention in the c…
Labour migration
This article focuses on the debate about the developmental impact of migration on the sending countries. Throughout the post-Second World War period, temporary labour migration has been promoted as a path to development. Remittances have grown to rival or surpass official development assistance and have increased living standards in the sending countries. However, the evidence over time is that the remittances do not lead to development or even t…
Helping People Help Themselves
Insights from behavioral economics have the potential to generate novel interventions and policies as well as inscrease the effectiveness of standard prescriptions. Here we discuss approaches to address addictions. These insights hinge on leveraging devision-making biases to help people overcome mistakes. Examples of these strategies include changing the presentation of information, restructuring incentives, and providing opportunities for precom…
Translatio versus Concessio
Liberalism is based on the juxtaposition of consent to coercion. Autocracy and slavery were based on coercion whereas today's political democracy and economic 'employment system' are based on consent to voluntary contracts. This article retrieves an almost forgotten dark side of contractarian thought that based autocracy and slavery on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts. The democratic and antislavery movements forged arguments not simply i…
Autonomy-Respecting Assistance
The purpose of this paper is outline an alternative theory of development assistance by analyzing the old strategies for technical cooperation, capacity-building and, in broader terms, development assistance in a way that will point to new strategies. The perspective is the very old idea that the best form of assistance is to help people help themselves. The problem is how can the helpers supply help that actually furthers rather than overrides o…
Policy Research on Migration and Development
This is a survey and analysis-with commentary-of migration issues and the related development policies for the sending countries. "Migration and development" is considered an unsettled and unresolved area for good reason. The policy issues are surprisingly deep and run to basic issues such as the nature of development as opposed to simple poverty reduction. North-north migration (between industrial countries), south-south migration (between or wi…
The responsibility principle and the democratic firm
The recent Enron-type scandals have reinvigorated the corporate governance debate. The purpose of this paper is to situate that debate in a much older and more fundamental debate about the organization of production. This paper presents a modern reconstruction of a property rights argument for the democratic firm (a firm whose legal members are the people working in it). The old “fruits of their labor” argument is reformulated using the ordinary …
Should development agencies have Official Views
The major development agencies have ex cathedra 'Official Views' (with varying degrees of explicitness) on the complex and controversial questions of development. At the same time, knowledge is now more than ever recognised as key to development--in the idea of a 'knowledge bank' or knowledge-based development assistance. The author argues that these two practices are in direct conflict. When an agency attaches its 'brand name' to certain Officia…
Responsibility and Workplace Democracy
The Arrow-Debreu model
I argue that math, like love, can cover a multitude of sins, and I use the neoclassical object of adoration, the Arrow-Debreu model, as the case in point. It is commonplace that the Arrow-Debreu (AD) model of general equilibrium does not describe the real world, but it is equally commonplace to accept it as representing the pure logic of the competitive capitalist economy in an idealized world free of transactions costs. I show that the AD model …
On the Renting of Persons
Liberal thought (in the sense of classical liberalism) is based on the juxtaposition of consent to coercion. Autocracy and slavery were seen as based on coercion whereas today's political democracy and economic 'employment system' are based on consent to voluntary contracts. This paper retrieves an almost forgotten dark side of contractarian thought that based autocracy and slavery on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts. To answer these 'bes…
The Democratic Worker-Owned Firm
When this book was first published in 1990, there were massive economic changes in the East and significant economic challenges to the West. This critical analysis of democratic theory discusses the principles and forces that push both socialist and capitalist economies toward a common ground of workplace democratization. This book is a comprehensive approach to the theory and practice of the Democratic firm – from philosophical first principles …
Helping People Help Themselves
Insights from behavioral economics have the potential to generate novel interventions and policies as well as inscrease the effectiveness of standard prescriptions. Here we discuss approaches to address addictions. These insights hinge on leveraging devision-making biases to help people overcome mistakes. Examples of these strategies include changing the presentation of information, restructuring incentives, and providing opportunities for precom…
Property and Contract in Economics
Journal Article Property and Contract in Economics: The Case for Economic Democracy Get access Property and Contract in Economics: The Case for Economic Democracy. By (DAVID P.) Ellerman. (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xii + 275. £35.00 hardback. ISBN 1 55786 309 1.) Pat Devine Pat Devine University of Manchester Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 103, Issue…
Should development agencies have Official Views
The major development agencies have ex cathedra 'Official Views' (with varying degrees of explicitness) on the complex and controversial questions of development. At the same time, knowledge is now more than ever recognised as key to development--in the idea of a 'knowledge bank' or knowledge-based development assistance. The author argues that these two practices are in direct conflict. When an agency attaches its 'brand name' to certain Officia…
Entrepreneurship in the Mondragon Cooperatives
(1984). Entrepreneurship in the Mondragon Cooperatives. Review of Social Economy: Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 272-294
A Model structure for cooperatives
*0034-6764/83/0401-52/$1.50 **The author is Staff Economist, Industrial Cooperative Association, and Assistant Professor, School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. Notes *0034-6764/83/0401-52/$1.50 **The author is Staff Economist, Industrial Cooperative Association, and Assistant Professor, School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Translatio versus Concessio
Liberalism is based on the juxtaposition of consent to coercion. Autocracy and slavery were based on coercion whereas today's political democracy and economic 'employment system' are based on consent to voluntary contracts. This article retrieves an almost forgotten dark side of contractarian thought that based autocracy and slavery on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts. The democratic and antislavery movements forged arguments not simply i…
Autonomy-Respecting Assistance
The purpose of this paper is outline an alternative theory of development assistance by analyzing the old strategies for technical cooperation, capacity-building and, in broader terms, development assistance in a way that will point to new strategies. The perspective is the very old idea that the best form of assistance is to help people help themselves. The problem is how can the helpers supply help that actually furthers rather than overrides o…
Labour migration
This article focuses on the debate about the developmental impact of migration on the sending countries. Throughout the post-Second World War period, temporary labour migration has been promoted as a path to development. Remittances have grown to rival or surpass official development assistance and have increased living standards in the sending countries. However, the evidence over time is that the remittances do not lead to development or even t…
The Employment Contract and Liberal Thought
My purpose is to analyze the institution of capitalist production and particularly its contractual basis, the employment contract, within the liberal contractarian tradition of political/economic theory. How does the employment contract fit into contractarian social thought? What are the implications of democratic theory for the employment contract? To set the stage for the analysis, I first consider the question, Capi? talism ? compared to what?…
Fallacies about Corporations
This article comments on Isabelle Ferreras's “Democratizing the Corporation.” The focus is on the conceptual framing, which arguably contains a number of problems that are quite common on the left and are thus doubly deserving of commentary and explanation
Rethinking Common Versus Private Property
The Commons/Green Movement seems to have accepted that the current system is based on the principles of private property, and then has juxtaposed the notion of common property to private property. In fact, the current system is based on violations of the principle on which private ownership is supposed to rest, namely, the principle of people getting the fruits of their labor. The Commons Movement should critique the current system as an abuse of…
The DNA of Enterprise
The main training grounds for entrepreneurial, technical, and business capacities are existing businesses. There are two ways that this training can lead to new growth-just as there are two ways that existing biological DNA can lead to the growth of bio-mass, namely, (1) existing organisms getting bigger or (2) by spinning out offspring who in turn can spin out more offspring. Where growth has been vibrant, e.g., Silicon Valley, it has followed t…
Counting distinctions
The "OWNERSHlp of tHe Firm" Is a Myth
A Model structure for cooperatives
*0034-6764/83/0401-52/$1.50 **The author is Staff Economist, Industrial Cooperative Association, and Assistant Professor, School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. Notes *0034-6764/83/0401-52/$1.50 **The author is Staff Economist, Industrial Cooperative Association, and Assistant Professor, School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Entrepreneurship in the Mondragon Cooperatives
(1984). Entrepreneurship in the Mondragon Cooperatives. Review of Social Economy: Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 272-294
The Employment Contract and Liberal Thought
My purpose is to analyze the institution of capitalist production and particularly its contractual basis, the employment contract, within the liberal contractarian tradition of political/economic theory. How does the employment contract fit into contractarian social thought? What are the implications of democratic theory for the employment contract? To set the stage for the analysis, I first consider the question, Capi? talism ? compared to what?…
Perestroika With Worker Ownership
Property and Contract in Economics
Journal Article Property and Contract in Economics: The Case for Economic Democracy Get access Property and Contract in Economics: The Case for Economic Democracy. By (DAVID P.) Ellerman. (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xii + 275. £35.00 hardback. ISBN 1 55786 309 1.) Pat Devine Pat Devine University of Manchester Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 103, Issue…
Responsibility and Workplace Democracy
The Arrow-Debreu model
I argue that math, like love, can cover a multitude of sins, and I use the neoclassical object of adoration, the Arrow-Debreu model, as the case in point. It is commonplace that the Arrow-Debreu (AD) model of general equilibrium does not describe the real world, but it is equally commonplace to accept it as representing the pure logic of the competitive capitalist economy in an idealized world free of transactions costs. I show that the AD model …
Should development agencies have Official Views
The major development agencies have ex cathedra 'Official Views' (with varying degrees of explicitness) on the complex and controversial questions of development. At the same time, knowledge is now more than ever recognised as key to development--in the idea of a 'knowledge bank' or knowledge-based development assistance. The author argues that these two practices are in direct conflict. When an agency attaches its 'brand name' to certain Officia…
Policy Research on Migration and Development
This is a survey and analysis-with commentary-of migration issues and the related development policies for the sending countries. "Migration and development" is considered an unsettled and unresolved area for good reason. The policy issues are surprisingly deep and run to basic issues such as the nature of development as opposed to simple poverty reduction. North-north migration (between industrial countries), south-south migration (between or wi…
The responsibility principle and the democratic firm
The recent Enron-type scandals have reinvigorated the corporate governance debate. The purpose of this paper is to situate that debate in a much older and more fundamental debate about the organization of production. This paper presents a modern reconstruction of a property rights argument for the democratic firm (a firm whose legal members are the people working in it). The old “fruits of their labor” argument is reformulated using the ordinary …
Autonomy-Respecting Assistance
The purpose of this paper is outline an alternative theory of development assistance by analyzing the old strategies for technical cooperation, capacity-building and, in broader terms, development assistance in a way that will point to new strategies. The perspective is the very old idea that the best form of assistance is to help people help themselves. The problem is how can the helpers supply help that actually furthers rather than overrides o…
Labour migration
This article focuses on the debate about the developmental impact of migration on the sending countries. Throughout the post-Second World War period, temporary labour migration has been promoted as a path to development. Remittances have grown to rival or surpass official development assistance and have increased living standards in the sending countries. However, the evidence over time is that the remittances do not lead to development or even t…
Helping People Help Themselves
Insights from behavioral economics have the potential to generate novel interventions and policies as well as inscrease the effectiveness of standard prescriptions. Here we discuss approaches to address addictions. These insights hinge on leveraging devision-making biases to help people overcome mistakes. Examples of these strategies include changing the presentation of information, restructuring incentives, and providing opportunities for precom…
Translatio versus Concessio
Liberalism is based on the juxtaposition of consent to coercion. Autocracy and slavery were based on coercion whereas today's political democracy and economic 'employment system' are based on consent to voluntary contracts. This article retrieves an almost forgotten dark side of contractarian thought that based autocracy and slavery on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts. The democratic and antislavery movements forged arguments not simply i…
On the Role of Capital in “Capitalist” and in Labor-Managed Firms
This article outlines the “fundamental myth” about the structure of property rights in a capitalist economy, namely the idea that being the residual claimant in a productive opportunity is part of a bundle of property rights known as the “ownership of the firm.” Residual claimancy is contractually determined so there is no such “ownership.” The fundamental myth exposes a basic fallacy in capital theory that has hitherto escaped attention in the c…
Counting distinctions
Marxism as a capitalist tool
Inalienable Rights
Liberal-contractarian philosophies of justice see the unjust systems of slavery and autocracy in the past as being based on coercion—whereas the social order in modern democratic market societies is based on consent and contract. However, the ‘best’ case for slavery and autocracy in the past were consent-based contractarian arguments. Hence, our first task is to recover those ‘forgotten’ apologia for slavery and autocracy. To counter those consen…
Comment on Ramon Flecha and Ignacio Santa Cruz. The Priority of Labor and Capital Accounts
Two aspects of the fine Flecha-Cruz paper can be usefully elaborated. The Mondragon cooperatives differ not only from capitalist firms but also from most other cooperatives in the doctrine of the 'priority of labor over capital' which means that the people working in any sort of cooperative will be members and will not be rented as employees. Also the Mondragon system of internal capital accounts solves the equity-structure problem that has plagu…
On a fallacy in the Kaldor–Hicks efficiency–equity analysis
Does classical liberalism imply democracy
There is a fault line running through classical liberalism as to whether or not democratic self-governance is a necessary part of a liberal social order. The democratic and non-democratic strains of classical liberalism are both present today—particularly in the United States. Many contemporary libertarians and neo-Austrian economists represent the non-democratic strain in their promotion of non-democratic sovereign city-states (start-up cities o…
The DNA of Enterprise
The main training grounds for entrepreneurial, technical, and business capacities are existing businesses. There are two ways that this training can lead to new growth-just as there are two ways that existing biological DNA can lead to the growth of bio-mass, namely, (1) existing organisms getting bigger or (2) by spinning out offspring who in turn can spin out more offspring. Where growth has been vibrant, e.g., Silicon Valley, it has followed t…
Rethinking Common Versus Private Property
The Commons/Green Movement seems to have accepted that the current system is based on the principles of private property, and then has juxtaposed the notion of common property to private property. In fact, the current system is based on violations of the principle on which private ownership is supposed to rest, namely, the principle of people getting the fruits of their labor. The Commons Movement should critique the current system as an abuse of…
Quantum mechanics over sets
Political science (23 obras) · Law (21 obras) · Economics (20 obras) · Sociology (17 obras) · Law and economics (13 obras) · Democracy (12 obras) · Political Economy and Marxism (12 obras) · Business (11 obras) · Politics (11 obras) · Law (9 obras)