A Participatory Economy

Robin Hahnel

Published in 2022

By AK Press

As of June 2021, 54% of Gen Z adults view capitalism negatively and over 41% have a positive view on socialism. A Participatory Economy is written for people who want equitable, ecological economy, but don’t know what an alternative to capitalism could look like.

A Participatory Economy presents a fascinating alternative to capitalism. It proposes and defends concrete answers to how all society’s economic decisions can be made without resort to unaccountable and inhumane markets (capitalism) or central planning authorities (state communism). It explains the viability of early socialism’s vision of an economy in which the workers come together to decide among themselves what to produce and consume.

At the same time, Hahnel proposes new features to this economic model including proposing how “reproductive labor” might be socially organized, how to plan investment and long-term development to maximize popular participation and efficiency, and finally, how a participatory economy might engage in international trade and investment without violating its fundamental principles in a world where economic development among nations has been historically unfair and unequal.

“A key contribution to the on-going debate on democratic and participatory socialism. A must read!”

Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century