Cooperative: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:22, 14 January 2013

A cooperative is a business venture owned and run by and for its members. Whether they are the customers, employees or residents they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits.^[1]

An example would be a credit union owned by its account holders, or an apartment complex owned by its tenants.

Views

Mises noted that "For many decades, they have been thriving very well under the benevolent assistance granted to them by the authorities. But there is no record of any important innovation which owes its introduction to the cooperatives. While private business, overburdened by taxes from which the cooperatives are exempt, improves, year by year, the quality and increases the quantity of products and fills the markets with new articles unheard of before, the cooperatives are sterile."^[2]

References

↑ "What's a co-op?", International Co-operative Alliance, referenced 2013-01-14.
↑ Mises, Ludwig von. "Money, Method, and the Market Process". http://mises.org/mmmp/mmmp18.asp.

Links

Cooperative at Wikipedia

[ICA_What-1] "What's a co-op?", International Co-operative Alliance, referenced 2013-01-14.

[2] Mises, Ludwig von. "Money, Method, and the Market Process". http://mises.org/mmmp/mmmp18.asp.

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-A '''cooperative''' is a business venture owned by its customers or employees. An example would be a credit union owned by its account holders, or an apartment complex owned by its tenants. Not many businesses of this type have fared well, and when they have, it has usually been due to preferential treatment by government, such as tax exemptions for [[nonprofit organization]]s.<ref>{{cite web|quote=For many decades, they have been thriving very well under the benevolent assistance granted to them by the authorities. But there is no record of any important innovation which owes its introduction to the cooperatives. While private business, overburdened by taxes from which the cooperatives are exempt, improves, year by year, the quality and increases the quantity of products and fills the markets with new articles unheard of before, the cooperatives are sterile.|author=Mises, Ludwig von|url=http://mises.org/mmmp/mmmp18.asp|title=Money, Method, and the Market Process|chapter=Observations on the Cooperative Movement}}</ref> These businesses suffer from some of the same problems, such as [[rational ignorance]], that afflict other one-person, one-vote [[democratically]]-organized groups.
+A '''cooperative''' is a business venture owned and run by and for its members. Whether they are the customers, employees or residents they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits.<ref name="ICA_What">[http://ica.coop/en/whats-co-op "What's a co-op?"], ''International Co-operative Alliance'', referenced 2013-01-14.</ref>
-In large cooperatives, turnout in elections tends to be low, because each voter can only cast one vote and therefore has little chance of tipping the result. This is enough of a problem in democratic governments, but is even worse in a situation where the stakes are far lower because the organization lacks the power to make arrests, impose taxes, declare war, etc. For example, each depositor of $25 in a credit union is considered a member who gets to cast one vote, but few members are likely to bother attending the shareholder meeting. The people who do show up are likely to be those whose [[opportunity cost]]s are low, perhaps because they are retired or otherwise unemployed and lack other hobbies. The benefits of leaving the governance of an organization in the hands of such people is questionable. Cooperatives are unfavorably presented in [[Ayn Rand]]'s novels as hobbyhorses of unpragmatic leftist dreamers.
+An example would be a credit union owned by its account holders, or an apartment complex owned by its tenants.
+==Views==
+Mises noted that "For many decades, they have been thriving very well under the benevolent assistance granted to them by the authorities. But there is no record of any important innovation which owes its introduction to the cooperatives. While private business, overburdened by taxes from which the cooperatives are exempt, improves, year by year, the quality and increases the quantity of products and fills the markets with new articles unheard of before, the cooperatives are sterile."<ref>{{cite web|author=Mises, Ludwig von|url=http://mises.org/mmmp/mmmp18.asp|title=Money, Method, and the Market Process|chapter=Observations on the Cooperative Movement}}</ref>
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}
+==Links==
+* {{wplink}}
 [[Category:Business]]