The institute, founded by Dr. J.W. Smith, researches the causes and cures of world poverty and promotes sustainable world development and elimination of world poverty through economic democracy and democratic cooperative-capitalism.
We are told monopolies have been eliminated. That is not true. As our research shows
- Throughout history, the powerful created our laws and they have subtly and carefully structured monopolies in law.
- Like inserting monopoly structures into law, that today's subtle monopolies are the most efficient economic system is only a belief system imposed to protect those monopolies.
- Subtle monopolies are inefficient to the extreme.
- By society restructuring to Economic Democracy and Democratic Cooperative Capitalism, economic efficiency will increase equal to the invention of money, the printing press, and electricity.
- That efficiency will permit the sustainable development of the world and elimination of most poverty in only 50 years.
The Institute for Cooperative Capitalism evolved from the research carried out by the Institute for Economic Democracy. The latter primarily researches the causes, while this institute maps out a possible blue print for the cures.
Our work for everyone to see
We hope to make as much of our research as possible available to everyone. Some of our recent books are available on this site, in full, for free. See our research pages for more information.
Publishing rights for your part of the world
Rights are available to translate and/or republish our work in your part of the world. See the Contact Us page for more information.
About Dr. J.W. Smith
With a Ph.D. in political economics, J.W. Smith has written broadly and lectured widely at conferences around the world. This is his 5th book on the causes and cures of world poverty.
J.W. Smith not only takes a different view from most economists his deep research pushes dense and impossible to understand neoliberal economics off the table and replaces it with sensible economics that we can all understand. As he says, "neoliberal economics makes sense only within borders of an empire. As soon as one steps outside those borders they make no sense at all. How could it? It is designed to lay claim to the wealth of the periphery of empire?"
Smith's 20 years of deep study of economic history builds a new school of thought. Where else do you read how wealth accumulation increases or decreases exponentially with the differential in pay between equally productive labor? That evolving from plunder by raids to plunder by trade became the signature of "civilized" nations? That Adam Smith free trade was specifically designed to entrench this system of laying claim to others wealth? Or that no nation ever developed under that philosophy? The exposure of these realities provide a new foundation upon which to understand the world.
That understanding of economic history leads us to Smith's explanation of how Western "democracies" evolved from feudalism and today's property rights laws retain the essentials of those feudal exclusive rights to nature's bounty. The concept these monopoly rights which exclude the weak from their rightful share follows naturally.
Smith provides the historic foundation to understand how Western "democracies" evolved from feudalism, that property rights still retain feudal exclusive rights to nature's bounty, and that it is these monopoly rights excluding the weak from their rightful share as the powerful continue the privatization of the commons that impoverishes so many people.
Smith looked deeply under the blanket of imposed belief systems protecting the power structure and its stolen wealth and concluded the debris of custom and law are the barriers preventing Western societies from evolving into peaceful and far more productive societies.
Smiths explanation of how the elimination of those monopolies through expanding individual rights and competition through a modern commons increasing economic efficiency equal to the invention of money, writing, and electricity providing all with a quality life working only two to three days per week; all while protecting the earth's resources and ecosphere, provides a ray of light on what we must do for a peaceful and prosperous world.