According to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute, approximately 1 billion people in 96 countries now belong to a cooperative. The report’s author, Gary Gardner, writes that cooperatives are low-profile but powerful economic actors, with the world’s 300 largest ones generating revenues in 2008 of more than $1.6 trillion. If these businesses were a national economy, they would rank ninth in the world—ahead of the economy of Spain. The report also reveals that 99% of cooperative ...