Pension Fund Socialism: A Critique

In a provocative book recently published”’. Peter F. Drucker undertakes to show how the generalization of pension funds in the last 25 years has brought about profound changes in the American economy and society. One of the theses developed in the hook has in the past received a good deal of attention from economists. It has to do with the problem of separation of ownership from control in the corporate economy. The purpose of this note is to challenge Drucker’s pronouncement that the shift of ownership from individual and other institution- al investors to pension funds has changed anything fundamental about the working of the American capitalist system. As a consequence the author’s policy recommendations are viewed as offering a formal solution to a non-problem.

Volume 2, Number 2 (1978)