At least one UK researcher believes they are!

Dr David Erdal's thesis is that people will flourish in more egalitarian communities, such as those with widespread employee ownership and increased numbers of worker co-operatives.

To test this thesis, Dr Erdal examined three towns in an area of northern Italy near Bologna: 26 % of the workforce in one town were employed in co-ops, in another there were 13%, with no co-op workers at all in a third town. The three municipalities were prosperous, with successful businesses and low unemployment. They were all within 80 kilometres of each other and in the same valley, so their physical and cultural environments were similar. They were also about the same size, with their populations in the range of 40,000 to 80,000.

David Erdal can be contacted by e-mail david@erdal.net.