Participation and the Working of the Price Mechanism in a Market Economy

Abstract

The idea of worker participation in economic decisions on various levels is getting more and more popular or — among its opponents — unpopular in an increasing number of West European countries. It is, therefore, a little surprising that so much of the discussion on participation is left by economists to political philosophers and politicians dwelling on the moral beauty or ugliness of the whole idea and treating the possible economic consequences of participation in a most superficial way. Economists should take up the discussion on these consequences of participation seriously. With my paper I should like to stimulate discussion of the question: Will the general introduction of a high degree of workers’ participation in the decisions of industrial enterprises improve or impair the performance of our market economy or eventually be incompatible with a sufficiently working market economy?