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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

place-based (local) economics

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January 25, 2024

How ‘Chamas’ and Mutual Credit are Changing Africa

Summary

Today I’m talking with Shaila Agha of the Sarafu Network about ‘chamas’ and mutual credit, and how they’re changing Africa.

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June 16, 2023

Five Stylized Facts about Producer Organizations & Rural Development

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Producer organizations (POs) receive substantial attention and policy support, given their potential to contribute to pro-poor rural development. Here, we first synthesize decades of empirical research in the form of five stylized facts—common and largely unchallenged conclusions—about POs. Then, we explore these stylized facts using several secondary and primary data sets. We confirm some stylized facts, challenge others, and highlight which ones lack empirical evidence to derive policy implications and directions for future research.

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April 27, 2023

Foster & Iaione Probe Commoning in the City

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How might the commons paradigm be applied to cities in a more focused, effective way?  To find some answers, I recently interviewed two leading thinkers and advocates for urban commons, Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione.

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April 24, 2023

Worker Co-ops Fund Themselves, Solve Equipment Crisis

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How the VAWC Inter-cooperative Loan Fund helped save the fledgling worker co-op Flat Iron Coffeehouse.

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December 29, 2022

Sutton Community Farm and the politics of community agriculture

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Founded in 2010, SCF is run as a community benefit society, a type of co-operative, whereby the farm business is owned by roughly 400 members of the public and counting.

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August 8, 2022

How to Start a Bike Kitchen

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June 27, 2022

Unions and Co-ops: Gem City Market

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A look at a multi-stakeholder cooperative with a worker-owner member class and bylaws that state neutrality toward union formation.

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May 31, 2022

Book Review: Concepts for a Democratic and Ecological Society

Summary

Yavor Tarinski’s Concepts for a Democratic and Ecological Society challenges your mind on the most significant questions such as direct democracy, de-growth, solidarity economy, and libertarian municipalism.

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May 26, 2022

The Global Movement for Localization

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Across the world, a quiet revolution is emerging. Countless grassroots groups, civil society organizations and individuals are coming together to forge a more hopeful path to the future: away from the destructive global consumer culture, towards healthy communities grounded in strong local economies.