Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective

Front Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 2
Copyright......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
A Critical Survey of Orthodox Views on Economy of Scale......Page 16
A. Cross-Ideological Affinity for Large-Scale Organization......Page 17
B. Chandler, Galbraith, and Push Distribution......Page 19
C. Williamson on Asset-Specificity......Page 32
Appendix A Economy of Scale in Development Economics......Page 37
A Literature Survey on Economies of Scale......Page 42
A. Economies of Firm Size......Page 43
B. Economies of Plant Size......Page 44
C. The Comparative Significance of Scale Economies and Organizational Efficiency......Page 45
D. Increased Distribution Costs......Page 47
E. The Link Between Size and Innovation......Page 51
F. Economy of Scale in Agriculture......Page 55
Conclusion......Page 64
State Policies Promoting Centralization and Large Organizational Size......Page 66
A. The Nineteenth Century Corporate Legal Revolution......Page 67
B. Subsidies to Transportation and Communication Infrastructure......Page 78
C. Patents and Copyrights......Page 85
D. Tariffs......Page 90
A. Cartelizing Regulations......Page 92
B. Tax Policy......Page 96
C. The Corporate Liberal Pact With Labor......Page 97
D. The Socialization of Corporate Cost......Page 99
E. State Action to Absorb Surplus Output......Page 103
F. Neoliberal Foreign Policy......Page 107
Systemic Effects of State-Induced Economic Centralization and Large Organizational Size......Page 120
A. Radical Monopoly and Its Effects on the Individual......Page 124
B. Systemic Effects on Institutional Culture......Page 132
C. The Large Organization and Conscript Clienteles......Page 137
D. The New Middle Class and the Professional-Managerial Revolution......Page 140
Postscript: Crisis Tendencies......Page 154
Appendix Journalism as Stenography......Page 161
A. The Volume of Data......Page 166
B. The Distortion of Information Flow by Power......Page 170
Conclusion and Segue to Chapter Six......Page 179
Appendix The NHS’s IT Program as an Example of Systematic Stupidity......Page 181
Introduction......Page 184
A. Mainstream Agency Theory......Page 185
B. Radical Agency Theory......Page 201
Summary......Page 206
Appendix Toilet Paper as Paradigm......Page 207
Economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth (the Corporation as Planned Economy)......Page 210
A. The Divorce of Entrepreneurial from Technical Knowledge......Page 211
B. Hayek vs. Mises on Distributed Knowledge......Page 218
C. Rothbard’s Application of the Calculation Argument to the Private Sector......Page 228
Conclusion......Page 235
Appendix “The End of the Quarter Shuffle”......Page 237
A. The Corporate Form and Managerialism......Page 238
B. Self-Serving Policies for “Cost-Cutting,” “Quality” and “Efficiency”......Page 246
C. The Authoritarian Workplace: Increased Hierarchy and Surveillance......Page 270
D. Authoritarianism: Contract Feudalism......Page 276
E. Authoritarianism: The Hegemony of “Professionalism”......Page 279
F. Motivational Propaganda as a Substitute for Real Incentives......Page 282
Appendix A Blaming Workers for the Results of Mismanagement......Page 296
Appendix B Corporate Rhetoric vs. Corporate Reality: The Case of “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap......Page 300
A. The Special Agency Problems of Labor......Page 302
B. Labor Struggle as Asymmetric Warfare......Page 309
C. The Growing Importance of Human Capital: Peer Production vs. the Corporate Gatekeepers......Page 335
D. Austrian Criticism of the Usefulness of Unions......Page 347
Appendix A Sabotage in a London Nightclub: A Case Study......Page 349
Appendix B Yochai Benkler on Open-Mouth Sabotage: Diebold and Sinclair Media as Case Studies in Media Swarming......Page 351
Appendix C DeCSS as an Example of Media Swarming......Page 353
Appendix D Open-Mouth Sabotage, Cont.: Alisher Usmanov as a Case Study in Media Swarming......Page 354
Appendix E Open Mouth Sabotage, Cont.: Wikileaks as a Case Study in Media Swarming......Page 355
as a Case Study in Media Swarming......Page 356
A. New Wine in Old Bottles......Page 358
B. Lip Service and Business as Usual......Page 364
C. Management by Stress......Page 367
D. Dumbing Down......Page 376
Conclusion and Segue to Part Four......Page 384
Appendix The Military Origins of Quality Control......Page 389
A. Reciprocity......Page 394
B. Privilege and Inequality......Page 399
C. Specific Forms of Privilege, and the Effect of Their Abolition......Page 413
Appendix Reciprocity and Thick Libertarianism......Page 435
Introduction......Page 440
A. Peak Oil and the “Long Emergency”......Page 443
B. The Scale of Possible Savings on Energy Inputs......Page 446
C. Path Dependency and Other Barriers to Increased Efficiency......Page 454
D. The Cost Principle and the Work-Week......Page 457
E. The Cost Principle and Local Autonomy......Page 462
A. Revolution vs. Evolution......Page 466
B. Dialectical Libertarianism and the Order of Attack......Page 467
C. The “Free Market” as Hegemonic Ideology......Page 473
D. Gradualism and the “Magic Button”......Page 476
E. “Dissolving the State in the Economy”......Page 482
F. Counter-Institutions......Page 484
H. The Two Economies and the Shifting Correlation of Forces......Page 485
I. Privatizing State Property......Page 490
Introduction......Page 496
A. Multiple-Purpose Production Technology......Page 497
B. The Transition to Decentralized Manufacturing......Page 512
C. Desktop Manufacturing Technology......Page 513
D. Polytechnic......Page 515
E. Eotechnic, Paleotechnic, and Neotechnic......Page 518
F. Decentralized Agriculture......Page 522
G. A Soft Development Path......Page 528
Introduction......Page 530
A. Self-Employment: Increased Productive Efficiency......Page 532
B. Cooperatives: Increased Productive Efficiency......Page 533
C. Innovation Under Worker Self-Management......Page 545
D. Social Benefits of Worker Empowerment......Page 548
E. Peer Production......Page 556
F. The Social Economy and the Crisis of Capitalism......Page 567
A. Demand-Pull Distribution......Page 582
B. Local Exchange Systems: Household and Informal Economies......Page 583
C. Certification, Licensing and Trust......Page 588
D. Social Services......Page 594
E. Mutual Aid and the Voluntary Welfare State......Page 595
F. Education......Page 602
G. Healthcare......Page 607
Bibliography......Page 618
Index......Page 652
Back Cover......Page 657