Equality, Participation, Transition: Essays in Honour of Branko Horvat

Tea Petrin and Alesa Vahcaica 103
Secondly, when they started to liberalize, the so-called socialist countries
did not choose the democratic form of market socialism (that is,
self-management) but instead opted for a radical variant of capitalism;
in those countries in which workers’ participation was practiced, it was
not completely abolished and today it continues to be practiced at
least as some form of co-determination. In highly developed countries,
which are also the most successful global economies, workers’ involvement
in different forms not only survives, but is increasingly becoming
one of the factors determining the success of companies. In this respect
Horvat’s analysis on the prospects of self-management proved to be
correct. This article is the contribution to the elaboration of this idea in
the following framework.
First, we discuss the economist’s approach in studying the world from
the point of view of economic welfare. In this respect, the question –
how can economic agents be induced to allocate scarce resources for the
greater benefit of the population – is in the center of our interest. The
field of workers’ self-management and participation offers one possible
solution to this problem. The hypothesis is that under certain conditions,
workers’ control of firms and/or participation in the management
of firms will lead to superior results. Not only will the efficiency of allocation
be higher but also there will be additional benefits of a more
egalitarian distribution of income and a higher degree of freedom.
Secondly, we examine how other disciplines such as management,
political science, sociology, engineering, deal with the above question.
While economists traditionally deal with the economy as a whole, they
have been only marginally interested in the actual functioning of
firms. 1 Other disciplines focus on different aspects of the same fundamental
question, namely: in what way is the manner in which people
are involved in economic activities important for maximization of
economic welfare?
Thirdly, we consider the possible benefits of cooperation among different
disciplines in order to arrive at better policy solutions for people’s
involvement in economic activities for attaining a higher level
of welfare.
Throughout the paper, lessons from Yugoslavia before its disintegration
as well as from Slovenia are drawn. The reason is that both countries
practiced self-management based on collective and social
ownership. They illustrate whether workers’ control of firms and/or participation
in the management of firms did or did not lead to superior
results, as hypothesized. They also illustrate why we foresee increased
workers’ (employee) participation in the future as the consequence of