Erik Olin Wright

Robin Hahnel

What would a viable free and democratic society look like? Poverty, exploitation, instability, hierarchy, subordination, environmental exhaustion, radical inequalities of wealth and power--it is not difficult to list capitalism's myriad injustices. But is there a preferable and workable alternative? Alternatives to Capitalism: Proposals for a Democratic Economy presents a debate between two such possibilities: Robin Hahnel's "participatory economics" and Erik Olin Wright's "real utopian" socialism. It is a detailed and rewarding discussion that illuminates a range of issues and dilemmas of crucial importance to any serious effort to build a better world.

Proposals for a Democratic Economy

Alternatives to Capitalism

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 desire an equitable, ecological economy, but want to know what an alternative to capitalism could look like. A Participatory Economy presents a fascinating, new 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 (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 Participatory Economy

A Modern Approach

The ABC's of Political Economy

Unless the economy is of the people and by the people it will never be for the people. This book is for people who want to know what a desirable alternative to capitalism might look like. It is for people who want more than rosy rhetoric and Pollyannaish descriptions of people working in harmony. It is for people want to dig into what economic justice and economic democracy mean. It is a book for optimists-who believe the human species must be capable of something better than succumbing to competition and greed or authoritarianism, and would like to know how we can do it. It is also a book for skeptics-who demand to be shown, explicitly and concretely, how a modern economy can dispense with markets and authoritarian planning, and how hundreds of millions of people can manage their own division of labor efficiently and equitably.

The Case for a Participatory Economy

Of the People, by the People

From Competition to Cooperation (Pathways Through the Twenty-First Century)

Economic Justice and Democracy

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Note -- 1. Prices -- The Marxian Theory of Prices -- The Sraffian Theory of Prices -- Comparing the Marxian and Sraffian Theories of Prices -- The Transformation Problem -- Notes -- 2. Profits -- The Marxian Theory of Profits -- The Sraffian Theory of Profits -- Comparing Theories of Profits -- Marxian and Sraffian Theories of Wages -- Labor Values, Profits, and the Economic Surplus -- Notes -- 3. Technological Change -- The Marxian Theory of Technical Change -- The Sraffian Theory of Technical Change -- Comparing Analyses of Technical Change -- Notes -- 4. Theories of Capitalist Crises -- Marxian Crisis Theory -- Sraffian Crisis Theory -- Notes -- 5. Economy and Environment -- Marxism and the Environment -- Sraffian Theory and the Environment -- Comparing Sraffian and Marxian Environmental Theory -- Notes -- 6. Moral Critique of Capitalism -- Marxian Critique -- Sraffian Critique -- Comparing the Marxian and Sraffian Moral Critiques -- What Counts: Contribution or Sacrifice? -- Conclusion: Guilty as Charged! -- Notes -- Conclusion -- References -- Index.

Sraffa Versus Marx

Radical Political Economy

A witty and accessible manual to the global economic crisis.

Everything You Need to Know about the Global Economy

Panic Rules!

Michael Albert

This "essay on capitalism, socialism, and revolution" offers a councilist critique of orthodox Marxism and offers, in the place of Marxism, a new view of socialist revolution consistent with modern circumstances.

An Essay on Capitalism, Socialism, and Revolution

Unorthodox Marxism

Seeks to understand and critically evaluate the post-capitalist experiences of the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba, and to present an alternative relevant to the U.S. and other industrialized countries.

Socialism Today and Tomorrow

This book's pluralistic, non-dogmatic, and committed investigation of the values of ecological sustainability, economic justice, and human dignity provides balanced analysis of environmental problems and their potential solutions.

Confronting the Ecological Crisis

Green Economics: Confronting the Ecological Crisis

In Economic Justice and Democracy, Robin Hahnel puts aside most economic theories from the left and the right (from central planning to unbridled corporate enterprise) as undemocratic, and instead outlines a plan for restructuring the relationship between markets and governments according to effects, rather than contributions. This idea is simple, provocative, and turns most arguments on their heads: those most affected by a decision get to make it. It's uncomplicated, unquestionably American in its freedom-reinforcement, and essentially what anti-globalization protestors are asking for. Companies would be more accountable to their consumers, polluters to nearby homeowners, would-be factory closers to factory town inhabitants. Sometimes what's good for General Motors is bad for America, which is why we have regulations in the first place. Though participatory economics, as Robert Heilbronner termed has been discussed more outside America than in it, Hahnel has followed discussions elsewhere and also presents many of the arguments for and against this system and ways to put it in place.

Robin Hahnel

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