Co-operatives in a post-growth era: creating co-operative economics

Front Cover......Page 1
About the Editors......Page 2
More praise for Co-operatives in a Post-Growth Era......Page 3
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Tables and Figures......Page 8
Introduction: Co-operative Economics, Why Our World Needs It......Page 10
 Table 0.1 Types of co-operative and their members......Page 12
 What economics do we use?......Page 15
 The structure of the book......Page 18
 References......Page 19
Part One: What is the New Economy and Why Do We Need It?......Page 22
  Preamble......Page 24
  The quadruple convergence......Page 25
  Crisis or crises?......Page 26
  The myths that sustain the dominant model......Page 27
  A new economy......Page 31
  Foundations of the new economy......Page 32
   Table 1.1 Matrix of needs and satisfiers......Page 35
   Figure 1.1 Genuine Progress Indicators and Indices of Sustainable Economic Welfare for selected countries......Page 38
   Figure 1.2 The classic approach to the economic process......Page 40
   Figure 1.3 The ecological economic approach......Page 41
   Figure 1.4 Humanity’s ecological footprint, 1961–2001......Page 43
   Table 1.3 The real size of the United States......Page 45
  References......Page 46
  Introduction......Page 48
  Scale and growth – or not?......Page 50
   Table 2.1 Six possible scenarios......Page 51
  Issues of resource scarcity and quality......Page 52
  The meaning for economic theory – and production......Page 54
  Using prices to achieve goals......Page 55
  Work......Page 58
  The ideal economy......Page 60
  How standard wage theory must adapt......Page 62
  Conclusions......Page 64
  References......Page 69
 3 The World We Need......Page 70
  Figure 3.1 Income per head and life expectancy in rich and poor countries......Page 71
  Figure 3.2 Real income per head and life expectancy......Page 72
  Figure 3.3 Child well-being is not related to average incomes in rich countries......Page 75
  Figure 3.4 Health and social problems are not related to average incomes in rich countries......Page 76
  Figure 3.5 Health is not related to income differences between rich societies......Page 77
  Figure 3.6 Health is related to income difference within rich societies......Page 78
  Figure 3.7 Child well-being is better in more equal rich societies......Page 79
  Figure 3.8 Health and social problems are worse in more unequal countries......Page 80
  References......Page 89
  Introduction: on the nature of prosperity and sustainability......Page 92
  What makes us unsustainable?......Page 93
   Box 4.1. The human ecological footprint – in overshoot......Page 96
  Human potential subverted......Page 97
  What to do? Towards a co-operative model for global sustainability......Page 101
   Table 4.1 Elements of the human behavioural spectrum......Page 103
   Table 4.2 The shift in economic values and assumptions (getting better is better than getting bigger)......Page 104
  Epilogue......Page 106
  Notes......Page 107
  References......Page 108
  Introduction......Page 110
  Exploring alternatives to economic growth......Page 112
  The LowGrow model......Page 113
   Figure 5.1 The high-level structure of LowGrow......Page 115
   Figure 5.3 A low- or no-growth scenario......Page 117
  Policy directions for a low- or no-growth scenario......Page 118
  Notes......Page 122
  References......Page 123
  Examples of shock......Page 124
   Figure 6.1 Deepwater Horizon......Page 125
   Figure 6.2 July temperature anomalies in Moscow since 1950......Page 126
   Figure 6.4 National income: percentage change from the previous year......Page 127
  The causes of shock......Page 129
   Figure 6.5 Converging stresses......Page 130
   Figure 6.6 Global risks map, 2012......Page 131
   Figure 6.7 June–July–August temperature anomaly distribution, 1951–2011......Page 133
   Figure 6.8 Multiple equilibria......Page 135
  From risk to uncertainty......Page 137
  Resilience......Page 138
   Figure 6.9 Shock and innovation......Page 139
  What we can do......Page 140
  References......Page 141
  Introduction......Page 143
  The art of finance......Page 144
   Figure 7.1 Interdependent embedded hierarchies......Page 146
  Real investment......Page 147
  The monetary system......Page 151
  The financialisation of the economy......Page 155
   Figure 7.2 After 1980, financial asset growth accelerated......Page 156
   Figure 7.3 Interest rate derivatives, 1987–2008......Page 157
  Conclusion: a challenge to our belief system and implications for reform......Page 159
  References......Page 161
Part Two: Co-operatives and the New Economy......Page 164
 8 Choices, Incentives and Co-operative Organisation......Page 166
  Co-operatives and investor-owned enterprises: what is the difference?......Page 168
  How to facilitate co-operation?......Page 170
  Two propositions......Page 173
  What are the challenges for the co-operative movement today?......Page 175
  A paradigm shift......Page 180
  In lieu of a conclusion......Page 181
  References......Page 183
  Introduction......Page 185
  Behavioural economics and co-operative organisations......Page 190
   Figure 9.1 Unit production costs and the costs of being co-operative......Page 193
  Extending a behavioural model of co-operative organisations......Page 195
   Figure 9.2 Surplus in profit-maximising co-operatives and hierarchical firms......Page 197
  Conclusion......Page 200
  References......Page 201
  Introduction......Page 203
  Physical capital’s strategic importance to industrial development during the age of Fordism......Page 206
  The crowding-out effect of capitalist economic power......Page 207
  The crowding-out effect of the state-based alternative......Page 209
  Dependent employment and hierarchical governance......Page 210
  The rise of the service economy and the emergence of new spaces for co-operation......Page 213
  Concluding remarks......Page 215
  Notes......Page 216
  References......Page 217
  Introduction......Page 219
  Theory: the evolution of humanity......Page 220
  Hypothesis......Page 222
   Figure 11.1 Differences between Cooptown and Normaltown......Page 224
   Figure 11.2 Death rates in Cooptown and Normaltown......Page 226
   Figure 11.3 The mortality–co-operative relationship......Page 227
  References......Page 228
  Introduction......Page 230
  Co-operatives, unemployment and economic crises......Page 232
   Table 12.1 Co-operatives in selected countries......Page 233
   Figure 12.1 Employment in Italy in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2007–11......Page 234
   Figure 12.2 Employment in France in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2005–11......Page 235
   Figure 12.3 Employment in Germany in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2003–10......Page 236
   Figure 12.4 Employment in Spain in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2004–10......Page 237
   Figure 12.6 Employment in Quebec in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2001–09......Page 238
   Table 12.3 Co-operative survival in Quebec: survival probability......Page 239
   Figure 12.8 Employment in Colombia in the co-operative sector and in the economy as a whole, 2000–10......Page 240
   12.10 Co-operative entries and the institutional environment in Chile,1960–2006......Page 241
  Co-operatives and long-term growth......Page 243
  Conclusion......Page 246
  Notes......Page 247
  References......Page 248
 13 A Role for Co-operatives in Governance of Common-Pool Resources and Common Property Systems......Page 251
  The Workshop......Page 252
  The challenge: how to frame the problem......Page 254
  Rules as institutional arrangements......Page 256
  ‘Discovering’ polycentricity......Page 257
  Conclusion......Page 268
  References......Page 270
  A truly global crisis......Page 273
  The global financial crisis as a debt trap......Page 278
  Why so much debt in the real economy?......Page 281
  Resilience of co-operatives in times of crisis and their contribution to the future......Page 283
  Conclusions......Page 287
  Notes......Page 290
  References......Page 291
 Setting the stage......Page 294
 Shaping the new economy......Page 296
 Co-operatives and the ‘new economy’......Page 297
 Conclusion......Page 303
 Co-operative economics?......Page 305
 Notes......Page 306
 References......Page 307
About the Contributors......Page 309
Index......Page 312
Back Cover......Page 322