Rejecting the Theory of the Firm: Why the ‘Free-Market’ Economy is a Myth and How to Rebuild Public Power

February 26, 2019

Companies today are not working the way that most Americans, policymakers, or the media think that they do. To fight inequality, we need to rewrite the laws that guide corporations. We must first, however, change the way that people understand the role of the American firm in our economy and explore how we can deploy public power, via the government, to foster corporative behavior that serves the collective good.



In “Rejecting the Theory of the Firm,” Nell Abernathy explains how a comprehensive restructuring of markets—which will first require a fundamental shift in commonplace assumptions held by the public—can help build a more equitable and productive economy.