The free market is notorious for its contradictions and inequities. Competition tends towards monopoly. Owners accrue capital at the top but extract it from labour at the bottom. Large enterprises enter, disrupt, and even decimate communities, often leaving workers holding the bag, worse off than they were before.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There are alternative economic systems to capitalism; there are also alternative market arrangements within capitalism--or something like it. One such model sees workers as the owners and beneficiaries of enterprise. So, we ask: What’s the case for employee-owned businesses?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Jon Shell, managing director and partner of Social Capital Partners.