David Ellerman
David Patterson Ellerman is a philosopher and author who works in the fields of economics and political economy, social theory and philosophy, and in mathematics. He has written extensively on workplace democracy based on a modern treatment of the labor theory of property and the theory of inalienable rights as rights based on de facto inalienable capacities.
Education
His undergraduate degree is in philosophy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he has master's degrees in Philosophy of Science and in Economics, and a doctorate in Mathematics all from Boston University.Career
He has been in and out of teaching in economics, mathematics, accounting, computer science, and operations research departments in various universities, co-founded the Industrial Co-operative Association in Massachusetts in the 1970s, founded and managed a consulting firm in East Europe, and worked in the World Bank from 1992 to 2003 where he was an economic advisor to the Chief Economist. Now he is a visiting scholar at the University of California in Riverside and an associate researcher at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia where he lives most of the year.Current research
In his 2007 article on "The Role of Capital in Capitalist Firms", Ellerman achieved a significant breakthrough in analyzing the basic production function of economics in terms of the logic of his labor theory of property. The latter approach has been extensively developed by Ellerman as an explanation and justification for worker-owned firms in co-operative business models and co-operative economics. In addition to his older work in political economy, property theory, and theory of inalienable rights, he has returned to work in the mathematical sciences by developing partition logic and a related approach to information theory. Currently he is developing these ideas to provide an interpretation of quantum mechanics.Selected publications
Books
- Helping People Help Themselves: From the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance. University of Michigan Press, 2005. Foreword by Albert O. Hirschman. Indian version published by Tulika Press.
- Intellectual Trespassing as a Way of Life: Essays in Philosophy, Economics, and Mathematics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Inc. 1995.
- . Cambridge MA: Basil Blackwell Inc. 1992.
- 1990, London: Unwin Hyman Limited Revised and published in Chinese as The Democratic Corporation 1997, Xinhua Publishing House, Beijing.
- Economics, Accounting, and Property Theory. Lexington MA: Lexington Books, 1982.
Recent selected articles
2001
- Toward a Corporate Democracy Movement. Perspectives on Work: Magazine of the Industrial Relations Research Association. Vol. 5, No. 2, 14-17.
- Introduction to Property Theory: The Fundamental Theorems. Policy Research Working Paper 2692. Washington: World Bank.
- Helping People Help Themselves: Toward a Theory of Autonomy-Compatible Help. Policy Research Working Paper 2693. Washington: World Bank.
- Not Poles Apart: "Whither Reform?" and "Whence Reform?" Journal of Policy Reform. Vol. 4, No. 4. 325-338. With Joseph Stiglitz.
- , Challenge. July–August, pp. 14–37.
2002
- Development in Practice. 12: 285-297.
- Helping People Help Themselves: Autonomy-Compatible Assistance. In Making Development Work. N. Hanna and R. Picciotto. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction: 105-133.
- Transforming the Old into a Foundation for the New: Lessons of the Moldova ARIA Project. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2866. Washington DC: World Bank. With Vladimir Kreacic.
- Autonomy-Respecting Assistance. In Capacity for Development: New Solutions to Old Problems. S. Fukuda-Parr, C. Lopes and K. Malik. New York: Earthscan for UNDP: 43-60.
- Enterprise ownership, types of. Entry in: The International Encyclopedia of Business and Management, 2nd edition, 8-volume set. Edited by: Malcolm Warner, London: Thomson Learning, 1731-1737.
2003
- Autonomy-Respecting Assistance: Toward New Strategies for Development Assistance. In The New Partnership for Africa's Development : Internal and External Visions. Edited by Rachel Hayman, Kenneth King and Simon McGrath. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Centre of African Studies.
- Should development agencies have Official Views? In Development and the Learning Organization. Ed. by L. Roper, J. Pettit and D. Eade. Oxford: Oxfam GB: 40-57..
- Policy Research on Migration and Development. World Bank Policy Research Working Papers : 1-64.
- New Bridges Across the Chasm: Macro- and Institutional-Strategies for Transitional Economies. In New Thinking in Macroeconomics: Social, Institutional, and Environmental Perspectives. Ed. by J. Harris and N. Goodwin. Northampton MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 30–50. With Joseph Stiglitz.
- Challenge. May–June, 6-28.
2004
- Migration, Transition, and Aid: Three Development Themes Relevant for South-East Europe. The Southeast European Journal of Economics and Development. 1: 11-53.
- Parallel Experimentation and the Problem of Variation. Knowledge, Technology & Policy. 16: 77-90.
- Autonomy in Education and Development. Journal of International Cooperation in Education. 7: 3-14.
- Autonomy-Respecting Assistance: Toward An Alternative Theory of Development Assistance. Review of Social Economy. LXII: 149-168.
- Corporate Governance, Capital Theory, and Corporate Finance Theory: An Approach from Property Theory. Corporate Ownership & Control. 1: 13-29.
- Revisiting Hirschman On Development Assistance and Unbalanced Growth. Eastern Economics Journal. Vol. 30, No. 2, 311-331.
- Oxford Development Studies. Vol. 32, 507-521.
2005
- ? : 2-16.
- . Challenge. 48 : 50-83.
- International Economic Journal. 19: 147-168.
- Development in Practice 15 : 617-630.
- . Politics & Society 33: 449-480.
- . Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. 14
2006
- In What is Category Theory? Giandomenico Sica ed., Milan: Polimetrica. 127-183.
- In Participation in the age of globalization and information. Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labor-Managed Firms. Vol. 9. P. Kalmi and M. Klinedinst ed., Amsterdam: Elsevier: 321-355.
2007
- Axiomathes. 17:1, 19-39.
- Review of Radical Political Economics. Volume 39, No. 1, 5-26.
- Journal of Socio-Economics. 36 : 561-577.
- MicroFinance: Some Conceptual and Methodological Problems. In What is Wrong with Microfinance? Thomas Dichter and Malcolm Harper ed., London: Practical Action Publishers.
2008
- FSR Forum . August 2008, 23-25.
2009
- In Theoretical Foundations of Law and Economics Mark D. White ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 96-118.
- Synthese. 168:1, 119-149.
- FSR Forum . February 2009, 17-22.
- Rethinking Philanthropy and Business. Conversations on Philanthropy. Vol. VI, 79-96.
- The Workplace: A Forgotten Topic in Democratic Theory? Kettering Review. Summer 2009, 51-57.
2010
- realworld economics review. 52, 2-27.
- Review of Symbolic Logic. 3:2, 287-350.
- Journal of Socio-Economics. 39:6, 696-700.
- Law and Philosophy. 29:5, 571-599.
- Workplace Democracy and Human Development: The Example of the Postsocialist Transition. Journal of Speculative Philosophy. 24:4, 333-353.