The International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP) is dedicated to exploring the economics of democratic and participatory economic organizations, such as labor-managed firms, cooperatives and firms with broad-based employee share-ownership, profit-sharing and worker participation schemes, as well as democratic nonprofit, community and social enterprises. The IAFEP Conferences, which take place every two years, provide an international forum for the presentation and debate of current research and scholarship on the economics of participation. For additional information about the IAFEP, see our website:
http://ocean.st.usm.edu/~w300388/index.html
Scope of the Conference
The major themes of the 2008 conference will be:
- The incidence of democratic economic organizations in industrialized, transition and developing economies
- The effects on firm performance (productivity, profitability, investment, employment and compensation) of various forms of financial and decision-making participation
- The creation, growth and survival of employee-owned firms
- The development and (in)stability of employee share ownership in conventional firms
- The evolution of employee ownership in transition economies
- Participation and discriminated or marginalised groups
- Issues facing expanding and transnational employee-owned firms
As in the past IAFEP conferences, presentations in the following areas are welcome:
- Worker participation
- Self-management, labor managed firms
- Employee ownership
- Co-determination
- Cooperatives
- Profit sharing and stock options
- Employee involvement programs (self-directed teams, quality circles, works councils)
- Economic and industrial democracy
- Community and social enterprises