Allocation or Regulation: Reasserting Society’s Control Over Corporations Through Tenure.
This paper, by Society members the late David Marlow and Dr Geoff Edwards, was delivered by Geoff Edwards to the 25th annual conference of the International Association of Business and Society held in Sydney in 2014.
There is a fundamental defect in the neoclassical sub-discipline economics in its attitude to government activity. Neoclassical economics regards government activity as inherently inefficient and advocates outsourcing or privatisation as much is possible to commercial entities, the community or individuals. This ignores the power of ownership.
This paper explains that the direct tools of allocation of tenure or ownership are greater and simpler than the indirect tools of regulating private activity after privatisation. Tenure administration involves withholding permissions; regulation involves withdrawing them after they have been granted.
This paper was peer reviewed before publication by the IABS but the link on its website, other than to the conference program, (pdf here) has subsequently been broken.