Economics of Self-Management (EC0023)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : MSE-3-SELFMAN

Most Western societies are proud of being political democracies, but democracy rarely operates within the firm. Governments can be criticised freely and are answerable to those they seek to govern. By contrast, managers are not, in general, answerable to those they seek to manage, and the mildest criticism can be dangerous. The central question of this course is 'what would happen if workers ran their own firms?' Would self-managed (i.e. worker-managed) firms take the same decisions as their capitalist counterparts? Could such an economy be efficient? As well as these issues, the course covers related topics such as profit-sharing, codetermination and wage-earners' investment funds. The approach is partly theoretical, but also covers empirical studies of British, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian and Yugoslav firms. Topics covered include: comparative theory of capitalist and self-managed firms; general equilibrium of the self-managed economy; monitoring and the labour-process; workers' cooperatives under capitalism; industrial democracy, codetermination and worker-directors; the effect of worker participation on wage-bargaining and productivity; financial participation, profit-sharing and share-ownership schemes; collective ownership, wage-earners' investment funds.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Hons Entry

? Costs : None

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Economics, (Management School and Economics, Schedule H)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	16:10	18:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course students should have developed their general skills of critical analysis and assessment; obtaining and processing information from a variety of sources; presentation and communication skills; interpersonal and groups skills; independent action and initiative; managing tasks and time.