Cooperative Economics & Management

Coop:
erat

ion!


Cooperation is messy and complex, yet it undergirds our everyday lives. However, the economics (and to a lesser extent, management) profession has largely neglected cooperation as a motivator, in favor of competition. However, the challenges of the present and future, like climate change and global inequality, will require actors in the economy, including entrepreneurs, governments and academics to harness cooperation much more than they will competition.

Therefore, econ.coop seeks to bring together the economics and management of cooperatives and on cooperation more generally. This of course includes discussions of cooperative theory (like discussions and interpretations on the principles and values) as well as practices, featuring research like case studies and field reports.

We are interested in building up a network of researchers, especially around the Routledge Handbook of Cooperative Economics & Management and its fortchoming Companion, Global Cooperative Economics & Movements.

Our partners include a number of research institutions and practitioners from around the world.

Selected Writings

  • The editors of the forthcoming Global Cooperative Economics (and Movements) cordially invite interested scholars to contribute to this important, timely, and transdisciplinary reference work. The volume will feature around forty 3,500-7,000 word chapters that provide a broad overview of various areas of cooperative economics & management with expected publication by Q3 2025. The volume will:…

  • After discovering how many people know very little about the recently deceased singer and activist Harry Belafonte, I decided to record a short video to explain what this great man meant to me and why I cried after learning of his death!

  • Yesterday, an article of mine was published in This View of Life, a magazine spearheaded by David Sloan Wilson(DSW), synthesizing three perspectives: DSW’s “prosocial” biology with, among others, Elinor Ostrom’s Commons-based economics and Steven Hayes’ relational psychology. The article focuses on Italy’s tradition of social and community cooperatives, looking at them from an evolutionary perspective,…

  • A fascinating panel on both existing financial instruments for facilitating worker buyouts of enterprises and an engaging discussion on the need for new and improved support structures for encouraging awareness and adoption of such mechanisms. Featuring Alessandro Viola (Italy, CFI), Thierry Perrin (France, Les SCOPs), Pedro Blazquez (Spain, COCETA) and Tej Gonza (Slovenia, Center for…

Photo of Palace of the Circus

Burial urns found on paros, with hopplon shields, ca. 750 BCE.