scholarly journals Codetermination: A Poor Fit for U.S. Corporations

2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Dammann ◽  
Horst Eidenmüller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
German Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
Institutional Differences

The idea that a corporation’s employees should elect some of the corporation’s board members, a system known as codetermination, has moved to the forefront of U.S. corporate law policy. Elizabeth Warren’s Accountable Capitalism Act calls for employees of large firms to elect forty percent of all board members. Bernie Sanders’s Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan goes even further and states that workers should elect forty-five percent of board members. Both Warren’s and Sanders’s plans are broadly similar to the German law on codetermination, which for many decades has allowed employees of large German corporations to elect up to half of all board members. It is therefore unsurprising that Senator Sanders points to Germany’s successful economic development as evidence that economic progress and mandatory codetermination can go hand in hand. However, this Article argues that codetermination promises to be a poor fit for U.S. corporations. While Germany arguably reaps significant benefits from codetermination, legal, social, and institutional differences between Germany and the United States make it highly unlikely that the United States would be able to replicate those benefits. Furthermore, the costs of codetermination probably would be much higher in the United States than they are in Germany.

Water in the Modern Era

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-88
Author(s):  
Edward B. Barbier
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Human History ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Global Water

This chapter looks at the use of water in the modern economy, focusing on the period from the 1900s to the present day. Throughout human history, economic progress has been linked with increased water appropriation, control, and use. The global spread of industrialization from the 1900s onward further cemented this association. As a consequence, in today's economies, institutions, incentives, and innovations are geared toward finding and exploiting more freshwater resources. The result is an emerging global water crisis, which is predominantly a crisis of inadequate and poor water management. In the modern era, the global model for economic development has been the United States, and subsequently, many countries emulated the US approach to harnessing its water resources. Thus, how water management evolved in the US and other economies during the modern era has set the stage for today's water paradox.

An Assessment of the Small-Firm Debate in the United States

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Ettlinger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Firm Behavior ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Large Firms

In this article I critically assess the ongoing debate regarding the role of small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) in economic development, and take the position that these firms are critical elements of local development and political economy. My discussion encompasses research findings from a variety of national contexts, but the general focus is on the United States. I dispute neither that large firms are important agents of change and wield tremendous power nor that SMEs may be problematic regarding either corporate competitiveness or social welfare. The stance adopted here is that questions are misguided because they focus on firm size as an independent variable to explain job generation or firm performance. Following a critical overview of data-related and analytical issues, I argue that problems as well as tactics conventionally associated with large firms may also characterize SMEs as they develop strategies to cope with new pressures in the global economy. Corporate culture, including the culture of both labor and management, as well as ability and willingness of labour and management to collaborate and implement new strategies, condition firm behavior and affect competitiveness, irrespective of firm size. Substantial variation in context (national as well as subnational) also affects firm behavior and prompts reevaluation and empirical substantiation of conventional assumptions about firm size that have governed the debate. Some SMEs may contribute to local economic development through a variety of processes. However, sanguine views about SME competitiveness must be tempered by the understanding that corporate welfare commonly occurs at the expense of worker welfare. This latter problem is considered inherent in the traditional Anglo-American Taylorist approach to production, irrespective of firm size. General policy guidelines are offered to integrate goals of production and consumption so that policies to develop corporate and worker welfare reinforce rather than counteract one another.

Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia

1958 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-256 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
The United States ◽  
Viet Nam ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
Colombo Plan ◽  
Made In

The ninth meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia was held in Saigon, Viet Nam, October 21–24, 1957. The committee considered the draft annual report which reviewed the progress of economic development in the area and outlined the unfinished tasks. It was announced that the annual Canadian contribution to the Colombo Plan would be increased in 1958–1959, subject to the approval of Parliament, to $35 million. The United States representative informed the conference that a new $300 million development loan fund was being organized by his government to assist countries of south and southeast Asia. The Federation of Malaya was welcomed as a member of the Colombo Plan. On the final day of the meeting the invitation of the United States to hold the next year's meeting in the United States was accepted. The meeting adopted the draft annual report and issued a communiqué which noted the economic progress made in the area in the year under review and outlined some of the future tasks in economic development.

Anne O. Krueger, Constantine Michalopoulos and Vernon W. Ruttan. Aid and Development. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989. xiv + 386 pp.Price: U.S. $ 52.00

1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

Foreign aid has been the subject of much examination and research ever since it entered the economic armamentarium approximately 45 years ago. This was the time when the Second World War had successfully ended for the Allies in the defeat of Germany and Japan. However, a new enemy, the Soviet Union, had materialized at the end of the conflict. To counter the threat from the East, the United States undertook the implementation of the Marshal Plan, which was extremely successful in rebuilding and revitalizing a shattered Western Europe. Aid had made its impact. The book under review is by three well-known economists and is the outcome of a study sponsored by the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of assistance, i.e., aid, on economic development. This evaluation however, was to be based on the existing literature on the subject. The book has five major parts: Part One deals with development thought and development assistance; Part Two looks at the relationship between donors and recipients; Part Three evaluates the use of aid by sector; Part Four presents country case-studies; and Part Five synthesizes the lessons from development assistance. Part One of the book is very informative in that it summarises very concisely the theoretical underpinnings of the aid process. In the beginning, aid was thought to be the answer to underdevelopment which could be achieved by a transfer of capital from the rich to the poor. This approach, however, did not succeed as it was simplistic. Capital transfers were not sufficient in themselves to bring about development, as research in this area came to reveal. The development process is a complicated one, with inputs from all sectors of the economy. Thus, it came to be recognized that factors such as low literacy rates, poor health facilities, and lack of social infrastructure are also responsible for economic backwardness. Part One of the book, therefore, sums up appropriately the various trends in development thought. This is important because the book deals primarily with the issue of the effectiveness of aid as a catalyst to further economic development.

Comparative analysis of the trade policy of Barack Obama and Donald Trump

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
V. Iordanova ◽  
A. Ananev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
World Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Entire World

The authors of this scientific article conducted a comparative analysis of the trade policy of US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The article states that the tightening of trade policy by the current President is counterproductive and has a serious impact not only on the economic development of the United States, but also on the entire world economy as a whole.

Response: The Use of Economic Anthropology in Economic Development

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-323
Author(s):  
Rhoda H. Halperin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Research ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Street Vending ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
History Of

The author comments on the use of anthropological methodologies in economic development research and practice in a developed economy such as the United States. The focus is the article by Morales, Balkin, and Persky on the closing of Chicago's Maxwell Street Market in August 1994. The article focuses on monetary losses for both buyers (consumers of market goods) and sellers (vendors of those goods) resulting from the closing of the market. Also included are a brief history of the market and a review of the literature on the informal economy. The authors measure “the value of street vending” by combining ethnographic and economic analytical methods.

The Emergence of Managerial Capitalism

1984 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred D. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
Common Pattern ◽  
International Differences ◽  
Managerial Capitalism

In this article, Professor Chandler compares and contrasts the emergence of managerial capitalism in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. Though he observes that large firms tended to evolve according to a common pattern, he is equally impressed by international differences in the pace, timing, and character of change.

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