Jaroslav Vanek is the undisputed advocate of worker's self-management and economic self-determination. Before I delved into studies of the former Yugoslavia and its economy, I did not know who he was nor did I know much about self-management. As a subject it seemed intimidating. I am not an economist, so I felt overwhelmed by the idea of interpreting an expert's theoretical writing on a specialized field like self-management.

My fears, however, were unfounded. Vanek's theories and writing style are quite clear, setting forth the five basic factors of a participatory economy immediately, also making it clear that a participatory economy is neither a command (Soviet economy) nor capitalist.

This book was a bit difficult to locate (being out of print) but if inclined to understand the principles of self-management and how such an economic system might function, The Participatory Economy is a fundamentally basic necessity.

"The true objective of the participatory firm is complex and multidimensional. If we insisted on reducing it to a single variable, we could not do otherwise that to say that the single variable is the degree of satisfaction of the individuals within the collective." This sums up what Vanek theorizes upon in great detail later in the book.