Kaveh Pourvand is a Research Fellow at Civitas, where he mainly works on the 'Wealth of Nations' project. He writes here in a personal capacity. He begins an MSc in political theory in October 2013.
The Emilia Romagna region in northern Italy gives an insight into how a republican economy might look in practice. The whole infrastructure is significantly geared towards cooperative production without any sign of lost efficiency. There is plenty the UK should learn.