Common ownership of the means of production is a central goal of socialist political movements as it is seen as a necessary democratic mechanism for the creation and continued function of a communist society.
[13][14] Common ownership is practiced by large numbers of voluntary associations and non-profit organizations, as well as implicitly by all public bodies.
Some individuals and organizations intentionally produce or support free content, including open source software, public domain works, and fair use media.
[15][16] Mutual aid is a form of common ownership that is practiced on small scales within capitalist economies, particularly among marginalized communities,[17][18][19][20] and during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
[30] From 1918 until 1995, the "common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange" was cited in Clause IV of its constitution as a goal of the British Labour Party and was quoted on the back of its membership cards.
[31]In antitrust economics, common ownership describes a situation in which large investors own shares in several firms that compete within the same industry.
According to the incomplete contracting approach pioneered by Oliver Hart and his co-authors, ownership matters because the owner of an asset has residual control rights.