Search for a Miracle Cure

An economist touts profit sharing as a prescription for prosperity

M.I.T. Economist Martin Weitzman may at first appear to be his profession's version of a snake-oil salesman. In his new book The Share Economy (Harvard; $15), Weitzman claims to have found a cure-all that will end both unemployment and inflation. The trick, he says, is for U.S. industry to abandon the practice of paying fixed wages and adopt a scheme that would compensate workers in relation to their employers' revenues or profits.

Weitzman's prescription may sound simplistic and his goals unrealistic, but the book is being widely discussed by economists and businessmen, and some reviewers are already hailing it as a...

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