“If "socialism" is defined as "ownership of the means of production"--and this is both the orthodox and the only rigorous definition--then the United States is the first truly Socialist country.” IfsFirstsMeanCountryStatesUnitedUnited StatesDefinitionsProductionsSocialismDefinedOrthodoxOwnershipSocialistSocialist Countries Book:The Pension Fund Revolution Source: The Pension Fund Revolution
“In point of fact there are a certain number of values and of forces which are of decisive importance in our world civilization: the primacy of production, the continual growth of the power of the State and the formation of the National State, the autonomous development of technics, etc. These, among others - far more than the ownership of the means of production or any totalitarian doctrine - are the constitutive elements of the modern world. So long as these elements continue to be taken for granted, the world is standing still.” WorldMeanLongStillsStatesFactsCertainValuesForceGrowthNumbersTakenModernDevelopmentCivilizationElementsStandingImportanceProductionsDoctrineGrantedEtcOur WorldOwnershipModern WorldFormationTaken For GrantedAutonomousStanding StillPrimacyContinual Growth Author:Jacques Ellul
“All the alleged key causes of SOE [State-Owned Enterprise] inefficiency - the principal-agent problem, the free-rider problem and the soft budget constraint - are, while real, not unique to state-owned enterprises. Large private-sector firms with dispersed ownership also suffer from the principal-agent problem and the free-rider problem. So, in these two areas, forms of ownership do matter, but the critical divide is not between state and private ownership - it is between concentrated and dispersed ownerships.” TwoRealMatterStatesProblemFormSufferingCausesKeysUniqueAreasCriticalAgentsBudgetsFirmEnterpriseDividesOwnershipPrincipalConstraintsRidersPrivate SectorInefficiency Author:Ha-Joon Chang