Participatory economics

Participatory economics is a proposed economic system in which worker and consumer councils coordinate production through negotiated planning. It aims to combine self-management with equitable distribution.

Participatory planning: An iterative process in which councils revise production and consumption proposals until they form a feasible plan. This is the system’s core method for matching social demand with productive capacity.
Economic self-management: A principle that people should influence economic decisions in proportion to how those decisions affect them. It supplies the system’s standard for allocating decision-making power.
Michael Albert: An American political activist and writer who helped formulate participatory economics. Albert developed and popularized the system’s institutional proposals.
Capitalism: An economic system organized around private ownership of capital, wage labor, and markets. Participatory economics rejects private control of productive assets and market allocation.
Economic planning: The process of deciding how resources, production, and distribution are organized across an economy. The model’s viability turns on whether participatory planning can work across a whole economy.
Worker council: A workplace body through which workers make decisions about production and working conditions. Worker councils propose workplace output and organize production under self-management.
Common ownership: An arrangement in which productive assets are held collectively rather than as private property or state property. Collective control of productive assets underpins council-based coordination.
Robin Hahnel: An American economist who co-developed participatory economics with Michael Albert. Hahnel contributed its economic theory and planning framework.
Central planning: An economic coordination system in which a central authority sets production and allocation targets. Its council negotiations are designed to avoid decisions imposed by a central planning agency.
Information complexity: The challenge of collecting, processing, and updating the information needed for complex decisions. The number and frequency of council proposals may create a substantial information burden.

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