Research Catalog

Title

The pension fund revolution / Peter F. Drucker ; with a new introduction and epilogue by the author.

Author

Drucker, Peter F. (Peter Ferdinand), 1909-2005.

Publication

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, [1996], ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Drucker, Peter F. (Peter Ferdinand), 1909-2005.

Description

ix, 232 pages; 23 cm

Summary

• In The Pension Fund Revolution, originally published nearly two decades ago under the title The Unseen Revolution, Peter F. Drucker reports that institutional investors, especially pension funds, have become the controlling owners of America's large companies, the country's only capitalists. He maintains that the shift began in 1952 with the establishment of the first modern pension fund by General Motors.
• By 1960 it had become so obvious that a group of young men decided to found a stock-exchange firm catering exclusively to these new investors. Ten years later this firm (Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) became the most successful, and one of the biggest, Wall Street firms.
• .
• Drucker's argument, that through pension funds ownership of the means of production had become socialized without becoming nationalized, was unacceptable to the conventional wisdom of the country in the 1970s.
• Among the predictions made by Drucker in The Pension Fund Revolution are: that a major health care issue would be longevity; that pensions and social security would be central to American economy and society; that the retirement age would have to be extended; and that altogether American politics would increasingly be dominated by middle-class issues and the values of elderly people.
• While readers of the original edition found these conclusions hard to accept, Drucker's work has proven to be prescient. In the new epilogue, Drucker discusses how the increasing dominance of pension funds represents one of the most startling power shifts in economic history, and he examines their present-day impact.

Subjects

• Corporations > United States > Finance
• Pension trusts > Investments > United States
• Labor union-owned business enterprises > United States

Note

• Originally published: The unseen revolution. 1st ed. New York : Harper & Row, c1976.
• Includes index.

Contents

• 1. The Revolution No One Noticed. The Attainment of Pension Fund Socialism. Unfinished Pension Fund Business. The Demographic Sea Change. The Revolution No One Noticed -- 2. Pension Fund Socialism: The Problems of Success. The Dangers of Success. Population Dynamics, Birthrates, and Dependency Ratios. The Economic Problems of Pension Fund Socialism. The Political Problems of Pension Fund Socialism. The Reforms Needed. The Future of Social Security -- 3. Social Institutions and Social Issues Under Pension Fund Socialism. The New Needs. The Demands on Economic Performance. The Need for Growth Management. Work and Worker: The Social Demands. Can the Labor Union Survive Pension Fund Socialism? The New Meaning of Property. Pension Fund Socialism and the Third World -- 4. The Political Lessons and Political Issues of Pension Fund Socialism. What Became of the "Isms"? The Effectiveness of Non-governmental Policies. The Myth of Affluence. Welfare Society versus Welfare State.
• Equality versus Equality. Inflation versus Unemployment: Which Is the Lesser Evil? -- 5. New Alignments in American Politics -- 1995 Epilogue: The Governance of Corporations.

ISBN

1560006269

LCCN

92005137

OCLC

ocm25371113

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries