Continental Europeans, generally lacking the deep faith in free markets that prevails in places like the United States or Britain, seldom try to address the ravages of capitalism with even more free-marketeering. Yet governments in Germany and Austria are devising legislation and using tax law to encourage employee stock ownership on a far larger scale than is practiced now. More stock in the hands of workers could help compensate for wages that have stagnated in much of Europe even as stock markets have, the recent turmoil notwithstanding, staged a long-term rally. That said, not all European unions are enthusiastic about the project. With financial markets unnerved by a credit crisis and a near-certain recession in the United States, they are well aware that being a shareholder has its downsides as well.
See "In Europe, some governments are encouraging employees to invest", Carter Dougherty, International Herald Tribune, March 30, 2008