Newsletter by The New Institute about Kohei Saito’s work

The New Institute has recently published a newsletter giving an overview of Kohei Saito’s work and providing some insights into Saito’s project there, where he chairs the program “Beyond Capitalism: War Economy and Economic Planning.”

To quote from the newsletter:

“If we want to avoid destroying the planet, he says, we must gear up for a kind of war economy—one where the state, not the free market, determines what is produced and with which resources. Only then can we ensure our survival. But that would require a lot of planning—in other words, a planned economy. Historically, such systems (e.g., the Soviet Union) led to bureaucratic and centralized control, ending in totalitarian regimes.

So how could a planned economy—one based on democratic principles—work in the 21st century? That’s the central question Saito and a seven-member team at THE NEW INSTITUTE are working on. The team includes Aaron Benanav, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University; economic historian and degrowth expert Matthias Schmelzer, from the University of Flensburg; and journalist Tatjana Söding, who also works with the Zetkin Collective. Together the team is essentially trying to chart a third path in which neither the market nor an authoritarian central regime dictate production. Instead, decisions should be placed in the hands of as many people as possible. This follows the idea of a “degrowth communism,” blending Marxist theory with the concept of a shrinking economy—one that produces and consumes less, not more.”

You can find the full newsletter here.