Stemming the Trickle-Up Effect states that "dozens of economists, social scientists and political activists" attending the What's the Economy for, anyway? conference feel that the promotion of employee ownership could be a key to reducing the gap between the nation's rich and poor:

"Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), for example, do exactly what they sound like they do: ESOPs transfer ownership of a company from an individual proprietor or group to the employees who work in that company. One such firm is W.L. Gore & Associates, the company that produces Gore-Tex material, among other products.

"Thirty years ago, if we were sitting around talking about workers owning the companies that they work in, this would have been a radical socialist question -- workers owning the means of production!" Howard said. "Today, ten million workers work in over ten thousand companies that are organised through employee stock ownership plans."

Such firms own over 600 billion dollars in assets. The average retirement account for employees at ESOP firms, according to Howard, is now in the range of 64,000 dollars per person -- markedly higher than most retirement plans for non-ESOP companies."

Here are some links to related blog posts:

Shared Capitalism
Employee Involvement Tips/S Corporation ESOP Taxation/Transfer of QRP to a GRAT