What do capitalists do? Social ownership in alternative market economies

John Willoughby and Christian Fignole

Review of Social Economy, 2025, vol. 83, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: This paper argues that firm ownership heterogeneity is a feature of all market economies. Although shareholding capitalist owners do not contribute very much to an enterprise, it does not follow that worker ownership would automatically supplant capitalist property relations and become the dominant ownership form in a post-capitalist, market socialist society. We develop this argument by using the institutionalist analysis of Henry Hansmann who provides a useful typology of different ownership forms and an explanation of why ownership relations are not homogeneous. While we critique Hansmann for overemphasizing the importance of efficiency in determining property relations, there are reasons to think that heterogeneous forms of social ownership will continue to exist.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2023.2232343

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