Introduction

In the last half century or so, the inequality in the world and within countries has increased massively. A truly fair and democratic economy aiming for long-term stability needs to go beyond social democracy and abolish the sources of hierarchical decision-making routines, the concentration of power, and unfair remuneration, and replace the defining institutions of capitalism with democratic and fair alternatives. In this chapter, we briefly discuss how an alternative economy could look like and specifically introduce participatory economics as an alternative to the present economy, argue for the necessity of accounting in any economy, and summarise the history of accounting.