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People's republic of Walmart

by Leigh Phillips, Michal Rozworski (Author)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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2063132,695 (3.43)None
For the left and the right, major multinational companies are held up as the ultimate expressions of free-market capitalism. Their remarkable success appears to vindicate the old idea that modern society is too complex to be subjected to a plan. And yet, as Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski argue, much of the economy of the West is centrally planned at present. Not only is planning on vast scales possible, we already have it and it works. The real question is whether planning can be democratic. Can it be transformed to work for us? An engaging, polemical romp through economic theory, computational complexity, and the history of planning, The People's Republic of Walmart revives the conversation about how society can extend democratic decision-making to all economic matters. With the advances in information technology in recent decades and the emergence of globe-straddling collective enterprises, democratic planning in the interest of all humanity is more important and closer to attainment than ever before.… (more)
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Showing 3 of 3
This is a think piece and the ideas have virtue what little in line sourcing there is sometimes made me cringe almost to the point to giving it up. Like siting Hidden Figures the movie over the book and other novels. ( )
  Blanket_Dragon | Jan 23, 2024 |
Great introduction to thinking about how a socialist economy could work. I wish there were references because some of the information didn't seem very accurate. For example, Target predicting pregnancies before the pregnant person knew themselves they were pregnant - pretty sure this is in reference to an incident where a pregnant teenager was sent baby coupons based on her informed pregnancy purchases (e.g. prenatal vitamins), which revealed her pregnancy to her father, but not to herself. I felt the book could be structured better. There's a lot of repetition and too much time spent on history, in my opinion. Also I'm not a fan of how much they unnecessarily use Latin terminology. ( )
  matsuko | Aug 17, 2023 |
The book starts out well. The first chapters are quite interesting. But eventually the authors become more interested in their ideology than in how to make planning work. Their plan for a better future is based on

taxing the rich
lots of nuclear energy and hydroelectric energy
no fossil fuels
global planning

Even they admit that this not going to suddenly just happen. I'm not sure how they get the view that nuclear and hydroelectric energy are cheap and clean and carbon neutral. This does not agree with other opinions I have read. Nuclear isn't viable until uranium mining is cleaned up and long term storage of radioactive materials has been solved. Hydroelectricity in its current form is very disruptive of the river ecosystems. Sunken forests also release large amounts of CO2 and methane. Just calling these technologies clean and ignoring the problems involved is irresponsible.

What would be interesting would be a study of what could actually work now. This book doesn't do it. ( )
  MarthaJeanne | Jul 27, 2020 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Leigh Phillipsprimary authorall editionscalculated
Rozworski, MichalAuthormain authorall editionsconfirmed
Björklund, PerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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For the left and the right, major multinational companies are held up as the ultimate expressions of free-market capitalism. Their remarkable success appears to vindicate the old idea that modern society is too complex to be subjected to a plan. And yet, as Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski argue, much of the economy of the West is centrally planned at present. Not only is planning on vast scales possible, we already have it and it works. The real question is whether planning can be democratic. Can it be transformed to work for us? An engaging, polemical romp through economic theory, computational complexity, and the history of planning, The People's Republic of Walmart revives the conversation about how society can extend democratic decision-making to all economic matters. With the advances in information technology in recent decades and the emergence of globe-straddling collective enterprises, democratic planning in the interest of all humanity is more important and closer to attainment than ever before.

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