A Working Example of a Booming Cooperative Economy

In Emilia Romanga, a region of Italy with approximately 4 million people, a network of consumer, farmer and worker-driven cooperatives has flourished for the last 150 years. Cooperatives provide over 40% of this region's GDP and employ over 66% of its working population. There are over 8,000 coops here alone producing everything from ceramics to fashion to food.

During the 1920s, fascists destroyed both the cooperative and union movements. But after World War II, cooperatives quickly regrouped and rebuilt stronger than before. (read more...)