In the political sphere, the word “democracy” refers to popular control over the government. In the economic sphere, the idea is the same, but extended to the production, allocation, and distribution of economic resources. Overall, the current economy is anything but democratic. Yet in part because the overall economy is so undemocratic, in recent decades, there has been considerable expansion of what might be best described as expanding pockets of popular democratic control over the economy. For example, a half century ago, employee ownership of business in the U.S. economy was rare; now, it is much more common. Explore this section to learn about community finance, employee ownership, and other emerging sectors of democratic practice.