Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective

Chapter Outline

Part One: State Capitalist Intervention in the Market

Chapter One: A Critical Survey of Orthodox Views on Economy of Scale
Appendix 1A. Economy of Scale in Development Economics
Chapter Two: A Survey of Empirical Literature on Economy of Scale
A. Economies of Firm Size
B. Economies of Plant Size
C. The Comparative Significance of Scale Economies and Organizational Efficiency
D. Increased Distribution Costs
E. The Link Between Size and Innovation
F. Economy of Scale in Agriculture
Conclusion
Chapter Three: State Policies Promoting Centralization and Large Organizational Size
I. The Corporate Transformation of Capitalism in the Nineteenth Century
A. The Nineteenth Century Corporate Legal Revolution
B. Subsidies to Transportation and Communication Infrastructure
C. Patents and Copyrights
D. Tariffs
II. Twentieth Century State Capitalism
A. Cartelizing Regulations
B. Tax Policy
C. The Corporate Liberal Pact with Labor
D. The Socialization of Corporate Cost
E. State Action to Absorb Surplus Output
F. Neoliberal Foreign Policy

Part Two: Systemic Effects of Centralization and Excessive Organizational Size

Chapter Four: Systemic Effects of State-Induced Economic Centralization and Large Organizational Size
A. Radical Monopoly and Its Effects on the Individual
B. Systemic Effects on Institutional Culture
C. The Large Organization and Conscript Clienteles
D. The New Middle Class and the Professional-Managerial Revolution
Postscript: Crisis Tendencies
Appendix 4A. Journalism as Stenography

Part Three: Internal Effects of Organizational Size Above That Required for Optimum Efficiency

Chapter Five: Knowledge and Information Problems in the Large Organization
A. The Volume of Data
B. The Distortion of Information Flow by Power
Conclusion and Segue
Appendix 5A. Toilet Paper as Paradigm
Chapter Six: Agency and Incentive Problems in the Large Organization
Summary
Chapter Seven: Economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth (the corporation as planned economy)
A. The Divorce of Entrepreneurial from Technical Knowledge
B. Mises vs. Hayek on Distributed Knowledge
C. Rothbard's Application of Mises' Calculation Argument to the Private Sector
Conclusion
Chapter Eight: Managerialism, Irrationality and Authoritarianism in the Large Organization
A. The Corporate Form and Managerialism
B. Self-Serving Policies for "Cost-Cutting," "Quality" and "Efficiency"
C. The Authoritarian Workplace: Increased Hierarchy and Surveillance
D. Authoritarianism: Contract Feudalism
E. Authoritarianism: The Hegemony of "Professionalism"
F. Motivational Propaganda as a Substitute for Real Incentives
Appendix 8A. Blaming Workers for the Results of Mismanagement
Chapter Nine: Special Agency Problems of Labor (internal crisis tendencies of the large organization)
Introduction
A. The Special Agency Problems of Labor
B. Labor Struggle as Asymmetric Warfare
C. The Growing Importance of Human Capital: Peer Production vs. the Corporate Gatekeepers
D. Austrian Criticism of the Usefulness of Unions
Conclusion
Appendix 9A. Sabotage in a London Nightclub: A Case Study
Appendix 9B. Yochai Benkler on Open-Mouth Sabotage: Diebold and Sinclair Media as Case Studies in Media Swarming
Appendix 9C. DeCSS as an Example of Media Swarming
Appendix 9D. Open-Mouth Sabotage, Cont.: Alisher Usmanov as a Case Study in Media Swarming
Appendix 9E. Open-Mouth Sabotage, Cont.: Wikileaks as a Case Study in Media Swarming
Appendix 9F. Open-Mouth Sabotage, Cont.: Stupid White Men as a Case Study in Media Swarming
Chapter Ten: Attempts at Reform from Within (Management Fads)
A. New Wine in Old Bottles
B. Lip Service and Business as Usual
C. Management by Stress
D. Dumbing Down
Conclusion
Appendix 10A. The Military Origins of Quality Control

Part Four: Conjectures on Decentralist Free Market Alternative

Chapter Eleven: The Abolition of Privilege
A. Reciprocity
B. Privilege and Inequality
C. Specific Forms of Privilege, and the Effect of Their Abolition
Appendix 11A. Reciprocity and Thick Libertarianism
Chapter Twelve: The Cost Principle
Chapter Thirteen: Dissolution of the State in Society
A. Revolution vs. Evolution
B. Dialectical Libertarianism and the Order of Attack
C. The "Free Market" as Hegemonic Ideology
D. Gradualism and the "Magic Button"
E. "Dissolving the State in the Economy"
F. Counter-Institutions
G. Counter-Institutions and Counter-Economics
H. The Two Economies and the Shifting Correlation of Forces
I. Privatizing State Property
Chapter Fourteen: Decentralized Production Technology
Introduction: Basic Goals and Values
A. Multiple Purpose Production Technology
B. The Transition to Decentralized Manufacturing
C. Desktop Manufacturing Technology
D. Polytechnic
E. Eotechnic, Paleotechnic, and Neotechnic
F. Decentralized Agriculture
G. A Soft Development Path
Chapter Fifteen: Social Organization of Production: Cooperatives and Peer Production
Introduction
A. Self-Employment: Increased Productive Efficiency
B. Cooperatives: Increased Productive Efficiency
C. Innovation Under Worker Self-Management
D. Social Benefits of Worker Empowerment
E. Peer Production
F. The Social Economy and the Crisis of Capitalism
Chapter Sixteen: The Social Organization of Distribution, Exchange and Services
A. Demand-Pull Distribution
B. Local Exchange Systems; Household and Informal Economies
C. Certification, Licensing and Trust
D. Social Services
E. Mutual Aid and the Voluntary Welfare State
F. Education
G. Healthcare

Bibliography




General Material

A Heads-Up on My New Project
General Outline (pdf)

Major Posts:
On the Irrationality of Large Organizations
On the Superior Efficiency of Small-Scale Organization
What Can Bosses Know?
Toilet Paper as Paradigm
Economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth
Part I: The Divorce of Entrepreneurial from Technical Knowledge
Part II: Hayek vs. Mises on Distributed Knowledge (Excerpt)
Part III: Rothbard's Application of the Calculation Argument to the Private Sector
Follow-up: P2P, the Two Economies, and Desktop Manufacturing
Distribution of Capital and the Pull Economy
Managerialism and the State
Natural Organizations and the Pull Economy
Robert Jackall on Corporate Bureaucracy
Liberation Management, or Management by Stress?

Secondary Posts:
The Panopticon: Not Just For Prison Any More
Face Time, Extrinsic Measures, and Contract Feudalism
Dilbert, Corporate Bureaucracy, and Libertarianism
P2P: New Economic Paradigm?
Dave Pollard on Organizational Behavior
Inmates Running the Asylum
New Wine in Old Bottles
Great Discussion on Corporate Hierarchies
Three Quotes on Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Outsource Everyone But the Pointy-Haired Bosses
Blaming Workers for the Results of Mismanagement
I Wish You Wouldn't Be So Good to Me, Cap'n (or, Executive Compensation and Ass-Kicking)
The Importance of Competitive CEO Salaries


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