S03E50 - Aaron Benanav | Beyond Capitalism I

Aaron Benanav discusses the first part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’
essay series in the New Left Review. In this part he lays the
groundwork for his proposal of a multi-criterial economy.


SASE - Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics:


https://sase.org/


SASE Network I: Alternatives to Capitalism (including CfP):


https://sase.org/networks/i-alternatives-to-capitalism/


 


 


Shownotes


Aaron at Cornell University:


https://cals.cornell.edu/people/aaron-benanav


Aaron’s personal website:


https://www.aaronbenanav.com/


Access to Aaron's paywalled publications:


https://www.aaronbenanav.com/papers


Mailing List to join the Movement for Multi-Dimensional
Economics:


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUF7MZ2jQJXY_wHKn5xSIo-_L0tkMO-SG079sa5lGhRJTgqg/viewform


Benanav, A. (2025). Beyond Capitalism—1. New Left Review, Issue
153, 65–128.


https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii153/articles/aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-1


Benanav, A. (2025). Beyond Capitalism—2. New Left Review, Issue
154, 97–143.


https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii154/articles/aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-2


Benanv, A. (2020). Automation and the Future of Work. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/2682-automation-and-the-future-of-work


on economic stagnation, see especially chapter 3, “In the Shadow
of Stagnation”.


on Marx’s concept of the Value-Form:


https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/appendix.htm


Moore, J.W. & Patel, R. (2020). A History of the World in
Seven Cheap Things. A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future
of the Planet. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/817-a-history-of-the-world-in-seven-cheap-things


on the abstract domination of capitalism:


Postone, M. (1993). Time, Labor and Social Domination. A
Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory. Cambridge University
Press.


https://files.libcom.org/files/Moishe%20Postone%20-%20Time,%20Labor,%20and%20Social%20Domination.pdf


Mau, S. (2023). Mute Compulsion. A Marxist Theory of the Economic
Power of Capital. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/2759-mute-compulsion


Leipold, B. (2024). Citizen Marx. Republicanism and the Formation
of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought. Princeton University
Press.


https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205236/citizen-marx


on GDP (Gross Domestic Product):


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product


on the Five-Year Plans in the Soviet Union:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-year_plans_of_the_Soviet_Union


Katsenelinboigen, A. (1977). Coloured Markets in the Soviet
Union. Soviet Studies. Vol. 29, No.1. 62-85.


https://www.jstor.org/stable/150728


Uvalić, M. (2018). The Rise and Fall of Market Socialism in
Yugoslavia.


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331223694_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Market_Socialism_in_Yugoslavia


on Friedrich Hayek:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek


Hayek, F. A. (1945). The Use of Knowledge in Society. The
American Economic Review, 35(4), 519–530.


https://www.jstor.org/stable/1809376


on the Pareto Optimum:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency


on Rational Choice Theory:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_model


on Behavioral Economics:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics


on Otto Neurath:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Neurath


on Neurath’s technocratic tendencies:


https://jacobin.com/2023/02/technocratic-socialism-otto-neurath-utopianism-capitalism


on Joseph Raz:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Raz


on Utilitarianism:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism


on the Capability Approach by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_approach


on the Human Development Index (HDI):


https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI


on the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs):


https://sdgs.un.org/goals


on Multi-Objective Optimization:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-objective_optimization


Saros, D. E. (2014). Information Technology and Socialist
Construction. The End of Capital and the Transition to Socialism.
Routledge.


https://www.routledge.com/Information-Technology-and-Socialist-Construction-The-End-of-Capital-and-the-Transition-to-Socialism/Saros/p/book/9780415742924


on Neoclassical Economics:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassical_economics


on Citizen Assemblies and Sortition:


https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/


on John Stuart Mill:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill


Mill, J. S. (2011). On Liberty. Cambridge University Press.


https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/on-liberty/62EC27F1E66E2BCBA29DDCD5294B3DE0


McCabe, H. (2021). John Stuart Mill, Socialist. McGill-Queen’s
University Press.


https://www.mqup.ca/john-stuart-mill--socialist-products-9780228005742.php


on Degrowth:


https://degrowth.info/


on Nick Land and Right Accelerationism:


https://youtu.be/lrOVKHg_PJQ?si=Q4oFbaM1p4fhcWP0


on Left Accelerationism:


https://criticallegalthinking.com/2013/05/14/accelerate-manifesto-for-an-accelerationist-politics/


Devine, P. (2002). Participatory Planning through Negotiated
Coordination. Science & Society, Vol. 66, No. 1, 72-85.


https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.66.1.72.21001?journalCode=siso


on Oskar R. Lange:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_R._Lange


on Lange’s neoclassical approach to Socialism:


https://jacobin.com/2022/10/oskar-lange-neoclassical-marxism-limits-of-capitalism-economic-theory


Kowalik, T. (1990). Lange-Lerner Mechanism. In: Eatwell, J.,
Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds). Problems of the Planned Economy.
Palgrave Macmillan.


https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-20863-0_21


on Joseph Schumpeters concept of Creative Destruction:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction


Shaikh, A. (2016). Capitalism. Competition, Conflict, Crises.
Oxford Academic.


https://academic.oup.com/book/1464


Kornai, J. (1980). “Hard” and “Soft” Budget Constraint. Acta
Oeconomica, 25(3/4), 231–245.


https://www.jstor.org/stable/40728773


on the Cobb-Douglas Production Function:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb%E2%80%93Douglas_production_function


on Adam Smith:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith


Lutosch, H. (2025). Embracing the Small Stuff. Caring for
Children in a Liberated Society. In: Groos, J., & Sorg, C.
(Eds.). (2025). Creative Construction. Democratic Planning in the
21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press.


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


Hahnel, R. (2021). Democratic Economic Planning. Routledge.


https://www.routledge.com/Democratic-Economic-Planning/Hahnel/p/book/9781032003320


Cockshott, P. & Cottrell, A. (1993). Towards a New Socialism.
Spokesman.


https://users.wfu.edu/cottrell/socialism_book/new_socialism.pdf


on Universal Basic Services (UBS):


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_services


https://autonomy.work/ubs-hub/


Fraser, N. & Sorg, C. (2025). Socialism, Planning and the
Relativity of Dirt. In: Groos, J., & Sorg, C. (Eds.). (2025).
Creative Construction. Democratic Planning in the 21st Century
and Beyond. Bristol University Press.


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


on Milton Friedman:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman


on John Maynard Keynes:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes


Aaron on what to learn from radical Keynesianism for a
transitionary Program:


Benanav, A. & Henwood, D. (2025). Behind the News. Beyond the
Capitalist Economy w/ Aaron Benanav.


https://open.spotify.com/episode/2diIiFkkM4x7MoZhi9e0tx


on Socializing Finance:


McCarthy, M. A. (2025). The Master's Tools. How Finance Wrecked
Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It). Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/755-the-master-s-tools


Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics


S3E47 | Jason W. Moore on Socialism in the Web of Life


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e47-jason-w-moore-on-socialism-in-the-web-of-life/


S03E29 | Nancy Fraser on Alternatives to Capitalism


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e29-nancy-fraser-on-alternatives-to-capitalism/


S03E04 | Tim Platenkamp on Republican Socialism, General Planning
and Parametric Control


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e04-tim-platenkamp-on-republican-socialism-general-planning-and-parametric-control/


S02E33 | Pat Devine on Negotiated Coordination


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e33-pat-devine-on-negotiated-coordination/


S03E10 | Aaron Benanav on Associational Socialism and Democratic
Planning


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e10-aaron-benanav-on-associational-socialism-and-democratic-planning/


S01E32 | Daniel E. Saros on Digital Socialism and the Abolition
of Capital (Part 2)


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e32-daniel-e-saros-on-digital-socialism-and-the-abolition-of-capital-part-2/


S02E31 | Daniel E. Saros on Digital Socialism and the Abolition
of Capital (Part 1)


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e31-daniel-e-saros-on-digital-socialism-and-the-abolition-of-capital-part-1/


---


If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these
resources might be of help:


Democratic planning – an information website


https://www.democratic-planning.com/


Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic
Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue
1.


https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1


Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction -
Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol
University Press. [for a review copy, please contact:
amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


International Network for Democratic Economic Planning


https://www.indep.network/


Democratic Planning Research Platform:


https://www.planningresearch.net/


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Episode Keywords


#AaronBenanav, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories,
#FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational,
#Transition, #DemocraticPlanning, #Keynes, #Efficiency,
#Economics, #NeoclassicalEconomics, #NeoclassicalSocialism,
#OttoNeurath, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Capitalism,
#Economics, #Socialism, #Socialisation, #Investment, #Degrowth,
#UniversalBasicServices, #CareWork