Can Labor Trustees Bring About “Pension Fund Socialism”?

Abstract

With the rise of institutional investment there was early excitement for some, and consternation for others, about “pension fund socialism” (Drucker 1976) brought about by the ability of organized labor to exert a new form of  power by taking control of their workers’ capital. The argument is that pensions are deferred wages because they have often been collectively bargained as a trade-off for increased wages or other benefits in the current moment.