The Participatory Economy

Anders Sandström

Published in 2026

By Routledge

This book explores the participatory economy model as a democratic alternative to capitalism and central planning.  Written from an accounting perspective, it addresses two critical challenges in implementing this theoretical framework: product categorization and contextualizing annual planning.

It outlines a comprehensive product catalogue framework by analyzing how consumers and producers influence product categorization, design, and production processes across nine distinct product types, which collectively shape annual planning proposals, costing, and pricing mechanisms. Further, the book positions the contextualization of annual planning clearly and concretely within the framework of the ongoing and complex relations existing in an open, fair and democratic modern economy. It identifies the most important coordination tasks and support functions necessary in a participatory economy for the formal annual planning procedure and the implementation of a fair and efficient agreed annual plan. Overall, the author proposes possible and viable ways to bridge the gap between abstract economic theory and the present reality, illuminating complex issues and demonstrating how a participatory economy can function efficiently without markets or private ownership.

The work emphasizes democratic decision-making, equitable income distribution, and self-management while providing detailed frameworks for price formation, production coordination, and investment planning in a complex modern economy. As such, it will appeal to researchers, scholars and students of heterodox economics, political economy, and socialist theory, as well as activists and practitioners interested in alternative economic systems.

“Anders Sandström makes participatory economics sound much more concrete! He has the courage to go into a level of detail that was never reached on this model. A thoughtful and stimulating contribution to the debate on democratic economic planning.” — Simon Tremblay-Pepin, Saint Paul University, Canada