Employee Stock Ownership Plans were developed by Louis Kelso, who later co-authored a book on the topic (and economic justice in capitalist systems in general), titled somewhat cheekily, The Capitalist Manifesto.
The basic gist is pretty straightforward, and its very popular with many corporations today: allow employees to buy stock in the company on favorable terms. For example, Apple (last I checked) lets employees set aside up to 10% of their paycheck toward an ESOP program, which is then used to buy stock at a 15% discount off the stock price in the period in question. This allows for a constant upward pressure on the price of the stock, and allows for employees to be more vested in the success of the company, in both the fiduciary and vernacular sense.
So, what if ESOPs came into vogue during the Gilded Age, as a way to head off unrest or socialist or anarchist agitation? They would not necessarily have to be extravagant, and I could see them being quite restrictive by our standards (I can think of any number of ways this could be done). They could be an interesting way to channel disatisfaction from workers by aligning their interests with those of their employers. With this economic safety valve, it is also possible that governments could pursue regulations that favored these programs.
The basic gist is pretty straightforward, and its very popular with many corporations today: allow employees to buy stock in the company on favorable terms. For example, Apple (last I checked) lets employees set aside up to 10% of their paycheck toward an ESOP program, which is then used to buy stock at a 15% discount off the stock price in the period in question. This allows for a constant upward pressure on the price of the stock, and allows for employees to be more vested in the success of the company, in both the fiduciary and vernacular sense.
So, what if ESOPs came into vogue during the Gilded Age, as a way to head off unrest or socialist or anarchist agitation? They would not necessarily have to be extravagant, and I could see them being quite restrictive by our standards (I can think of any number of ways this could be done). They could be an interesting way to channel disatisfaction from workers by aligning their interests with those of their employers. With this economic safety valve, it is also possible that governments could pursue regulations that favored these programs.