587. Should Companies Be Owned by Their Workers?

Freakonomics Radio

The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing?

  • SOURCES:
    • Marjorie Kelly, distinguished senior fellow at The Democracy Collaborative.
    • Corey Rosen, founder and senior staff member of the National Center for Employee Ownership.
    • Pete Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR.
  • RESOURCES:
    • "Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit," by Lydia DePillis (The New York Times, 2024).
    • "Private Equity Heavyweight Pushing Employee Ownership," (60 Minutes, 2024).
    • "Ownership Works: Scaling a Profitable Social Mission," by Ethan Rouen, Dennis Campbell, and Andrew Robinson (HBS Case Collection, 2023).
    • "Research on Employee Ownership," by the National Center for Employee Ownership (2023).
    • Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises, by Marjorie Kelly (2023).
    • "Is Private Equity Joining — or Co-Opting—the Employee Ownership Movement?" by Marjorie Kelly and Karen Kahn (Fast Company, 2022).
    • "How Well Is Employee Ownership Working?" by Corey Rosen and Michael Quarrey (Harvard Business Review, 1987).
  • EXTRAS:
    • "Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
    • "Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
    • "Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

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