WORKERS FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION - AN EAST-WEST COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

This article compares the recent developments of financial participati on schemes in the West and in Central and Eastern Europe. Its first ai m is to identify the different legislative experiences, forms and exte nt of financial participation. The promotion of financial participatio n intervenes in a totally different context in these two groups of cou ntries. In the West, its main objective is to enhance workers' motivat ion whilst in Eastern European countries, it appears as a form of priv atization. Since financial participation also varies according to the features of the national system of industrial relations, the attitudes of social partners are particularly analysed in a cross-country persp ective. Finally, from company examples and a brief survey of empirical research, the author studies the economic and social potentials of th ese schemes.