Post-capitalism

This article is about the concept in economic thought. For the book by Paul Mason, see PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future.

Post-capitalism includes a number of proposals for a new economic system to replace capitalism. According to some Classical Marxist and some social evolutionary theories, post-capitalist society may come about as a result of spontaneous evolution as capitalism becomes obsolete. Others propose models to intentionally replace capitalism. The most notable among them are anarchism and socialism.

Anarchism

• Anarchist communism, a hybrid of communism and anarchism advocating (among others) decision making by direct and/or consensus democracy, abolition of the state, and abolition of private ownership of the means of production.

• Post-scarcity anarchism, an economic system based on social ecology, libertarian municipalism, and an abundance of fundamental resources.

• Anarcho-syndicalism, an ideology centred on self-management of labour, socialism, and direct democracy.

Socialism

• Socialism, an economic system based on public or cooperative ownership of the means of production where production is carried out to directly produce use-value, that includes a moneyless form of accounting such as physical resource accounting or labor-time, and based on the direct production of utility rather than on the capitalist laws of accumulation and value. Some models of socialism imply economic planning for the allocation of the factors of production in place of capital markets, while other models of socialism retain market-based allocation of capital goods. Some Marxists believe Socialism would eventually in turn evolve into Communism.

• Planned socialism, a type of socialism where some form of economic planning substitutes markets for allocating the factors of production and for coordinating the economy. There are various types of planning, including central planning and decentralized planning; material balance planning, input-output planning and computerized planning.

• Market socialism, a type of socialism based on socialization and public or cooperative ownership of the means of production, but retains monetary calculation and market competition and utilizes markets as the primary way of allocating the factors of production.

• Communalism, a political theory based on the writings of Murray Bookchin. Bookchin developed Communalism after he broke with anarchism believing it to be individualist and lifestylist. It is based on libertarian municipalism, confederalism, and social ecology.

Other

• Economic democracy, a socioeconomic philosophy that retains a market economy, but establishes democratic control of firms by their workers, and social control of investment by a network of public banks.

• Heritage Check System, a socioeconomic plan that retains a market economy, but removes fractional reserve lending power from banks, and limits government printing of money to offset deflation with money printed being used to buy materials to back the currency, pay for government programs in lieu of taxes, with the remainder to be split evenly among all citizens to stimulate the economy (termed a "heritage check" for which the system is named). As presented by the original author of the idea, Robert Heinlein, in his book For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs, the system would be self-reinforcing, and eventually result in a regular heritage checks able to provide a modest living for most citizens.

See also

• Anti-capitalism
• Critique of capitalism
• Economic history of the world
• Eco-communalism
• Evolutionary economics

• Post-scarcity economy
• Socialist calculation debate
• Social evolution
• Technocapitalism
• Historical materialism

Further reading

• Albert, Michael. Parecon: Life After Capitalism. London: Verso, 2003.
• Ankerl, Guy C. Beyond Monopoly Capitalism and Monopoly Socialism: Distributive Justice in a Competitive Society. Cambridge MA: Schenkman, 1978
• The Associative Economy: Insights beyond the Welfare System and into Post-Capitalism
• Mason, Paul (2015). PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future, London: Allen Lane. ISBN 9781846147388.
• Shutt, Harry (2010). Beyond the Profits System: Possibilities for the Post-Capitalist Era. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1848134171
• Srnicek, Nick and Alex Williams. Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work. London: Verso, 2015. ISBN 1784780960
• Steele, Ramsay Steele (1999). From Marx to Mises: Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation. Open Court. ISBN 978-0875484495
• Wright, Erik O. Envisioning Real Utopias. London: Verso, 2010.