Of the People, By the People: The Case for a Participatory Economy

Robin Hahnel

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 who 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.

Praise for Of the People, By the People:

"A lucid and compelling account of the outlines of a free and just society, how it would work, and how we can act to bring it about." —Noam Chomsky

"This is the clearest and most refined presentation yet to appear of participatory economics. Among the books that must be read by anyone serious about building a democratic economy that takes us beyond both traditional socialism and corporate capitalism. Robin Hahnel at his best!" —Gar Alperovitz