Towards a Post-Capitalist Theory of the Firm

 Summary of the Post-Capitalist Theory of the Firm

Core Concept: The Post-Capitalist firm reconceptualizes the company as an economic epistemic engine. The founder's role is to initiate a functional economic system that becomes self-perpetuating and self-organizing, similar to the formation of political parties in democratic societies.

Foundational Rules:

  1. Founder Declaration:
    • Upon company registration, the founder must publicly declare two numbers:
      • Baseline Average Income: The minimum average income level for all employees before the founder can begin extracting rent.
      • Founder's Rent Multiple: The maximum multiple of the average employee income that the founder will be entitled to as rent once the baseline average income is achieved.
  2. Compensation Transparency:
    • All employee compensation must be fully transparent.
  3. Worker-Determined Pay:
    • The workers collectively decide how the total salary budget is distributed among themselves, without interference by the founder once the system is in place.
  4. Founder Rent Activation:
    • The founder only begins receiving their rent (based on the declared multiple) after the firm reaches the baseline average income.
    • Prior to this, the founder's compensation is collectively decided like any other worker.
  5. Separation of Control and Rent:
    • As long as the founder actively manages the company, they are paid like any other employee.
    • If the founder wishes to collect rent at the declared multiple, they must give up executive control.
  6. Immutable Rent Agreement:
    • Workers cannot retroactively revoke the founder's right to the declared rent once it is activated.
  7. No Special Classes:
    • No "super shares" or special voting rights that would reintroduce autocratic control structures are permitted.

Key Implications:

  • Destruction of Capitalist Accumulation:
    • Structural limits on founder rent prevent the runaway accumulation of wealth and capital concentration.
  • Decentralized Management:
    • After initial setup, founders relinquish detailed operational control, allowing for adaptive, bottom-up decision-making by workers.
  • Alignment of Interests:
    • Workers are incentivized to grow the company sustainably, as their compensation and working conditions are directly determined by their collective performance.
  • Preservation of Free Markets:
    • The system retains market competition and entrepreneurship without relying on exploitative capitalist structures.
  • Minimal State Involvement:
    • Reduced need for state redistribution policies (e.g., progressive taxation) as wage inequality is structurally minimized.
  • Procedural Transition:
    • Firms evolve naturally without requiring revolutionary expropriation or violent upheaval, solving Marx's critique of capitalism procedurally without adopting the labor theory of value.
  • Resilience and Flexibility:
    • Firms can pivot, evolve, and even transform their industry focus (e.g., from manufacturing to finance) as long as they maintain coherence among participants.
  • Moral Consistency:
    • Founders are honored for their contributions but not mythologized as inherently superior beings.

In Short: The Post-Capitalist firm separates free markets from capitalist exploitation by embedding procedural fairness and decentralized agency into the legal and incentive structures of the company itself. It offers a practical, non-violent path to transcend capitalism while preserving and enhancing human creativity, freedom, and economic vitality.

 

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