Political power was democratised long ago, but the economy has never been democratised. This landmark project is taking its first steps, and each of us can play a role in promoting the new system whose fundamental ethical principles are community and sustainability.
Our economy is literally destroying the planet we live on. The natural resources it consumes are more than the Earth is capable of regenerating. We are demolishing the only home we have, yet we remain trapped within a system designed to perpetuate this destruction. Ours is an economy 'created by the one per cent for the one per cent', as Joseph Stiglitz called it, an extractive economy, designed so that a financial elite can maximise its profits without regard for the damage done to workers, communities and the environment.
In this book, however, Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard demonstrate that a new economy is emerging, created by people for people, which aims to meet the basic needs of all, balance human consumption with the Earth's regenerative capacity, meet the needs of ordinary people, and share prosperity regardless of diversity: a democratic economy. Building this involves redesigning fundamental institutions and activities (business, investment, economic development, employment, purchasing, banking, use of resources) so that the basic mechanisms of the economy are harnessed to serve the common good. Changing everything means that everyone has a role to play, and Kelly and Howard tell the stories not only of activists and grassroots leaders, but also of unsuspecting supporters of the democratic economy, stories in which the seeds of a future beyond corporate capitalism germinate in hospital supply departments, pension fund offices, and even in some boardrooms. The road to a system based on community, democracy and justice remains uncertain, but reading Kelly and Howard's words, we will tread it together. This is only the first step.
“It is not enough to think that another world is possible; we must be able to envision it, experience it on a small scale, feel it and taste it. What Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard do in this book is offer us the tangible stories and models of reality we need to truly believe in a new world. These stories - of cooperatively-owned businesses, cities adopting racial justice economic policies, ethical finance and investment, communities reacting to the crisis by engaging in the construction of the new - show us that another economy is not just an abstract possibility or a distant utopia, but something already being built in the real world.” From the foreword by Naomi Klein
Marjorie Kelly is the vice president of Democracy Collaborative, a national research institute dedicated to developing new strategies for a more democratic economy. She collaborates with the Tellus Institute and was the co-founder and president of Business Ethics magazine. For Aboca edizioni, in 2021, she published Padroni del futuro. Viaggio nella nuova economia generativa.
Ted Howard is the co-founder and president of Democracy Collaborative. He works to achieve a vision of a new economic system in which shared ownership and control create more equitable and inclusive outcomes, promotes ecological sustainability and a thriving democratic and community life.
More on Aboca Edizioni web site
Political power was democratised long ago, but the economy has never been democratised. This landmark project is taking its first steps, and each of us can play a role in promoting the new system whose fundamental ethical principles are community and sustainability.
Our economy is literally destroying the planet we live on. The natural resources it consumes are more than the Earth is capable of regenerating. We are demolishing the only home we have, yet we remain trapped within a system designed to perpetuate this destruction. Ours is an economy 'created by the one per cent for the one per cent', as Joseph Stiglitz called it, an extractive economy, designed so that a financial elite can maximise its profits without regard for the damage done to workers, communities and the environment.
In this book, however, Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard demonstrate that a new economy is emerging, created by people for people, which aims to meet the basic needs of all, balance human consumption with the Earth's regenerative capacity, meet the needs of ordinary people, and share prosperity regardless of diversity: a democratic economy. Building this involves redesigning fundamental institutions and activities (business, investment, economic development, employment, purchasing, banking, use of resources) so that the basic mechanisms of the economy are harnessed to serve the common good. Changing everything means that everyone has a role to play, and Kelly and Howard tell the stories not only of activists and grassroots leaders, but also of unsuspecting supporters of the democratic economy, stories in which the seeds of a future beyond corporate capitalism germinate in hospital supply departments, pension fund offices, and even in some boardrooms. The road to a system based on community, democracy and justice remains uncertain, but reading Kelly and Howard's words, we will tread it together. This is only the first step.
“It is not enough to think that another world is possible; we must be able to envision it, experience it on a small scale, feel it and taste it. What Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard do in this book is offer us the tangible stories and models of reality we need to truly believe in a new world. These stories - of cooperatively-owned businesses, cities adopting racial justice economic policies, ethical finance and investment, communities reacting to the crisis by engaging in the construction of the new - show us that another economy is not just an abstract possibility or a distant utopia, but something already being built in the real world.” From the foreword by Naomi Klein
Marjorie Kelly is the vice president of Democracy Collaborative, a national research institute dedicated to developing new strategies for a more democratic economy. She collaborates with the Tellus Institute and was the co-founder and president of Business Ethics magazine. For Aboca edizioni, in 2021, she published Padroni del futuro. Viaggio nella nuova economia generativa.
Ted Howard is the co-founder and president of Democracy Collaborative. He works to achieve a vision of a new economic system in which shared ownership and control create more equitable and inclusive outcomes, promotes ecological sustainability and a thriving democratic and community life.
More on Aboca Edizioni web site
