AbstractSpecific community economic projects, as well as multi-sectoral democratic economic planning (DEP), require evaluative assessments to assess their strengths, mitigate their challenges, and persuade funders, governments and others of their merits. Yet calculative techniques employed in mainstream economic analysis are often predisposed to delegitimate economic diversity. For example, the typical “cost/benefit” neglects much of what we aspire to promote (environmental sustainability, community solidarity, anti-oppression, rethinking care work, etc.).We invite conversation among scholars and activists tackling various dimensions of “what counts”:1. In our current diverse economy projects:- is it possible/advisable to quantify community or environmental benefits/costs?"-- to what extent does our implementation of mainstream economic evaluation enact assumptions and categories that are unhelpful for our economic aspirations?- can mainstream evaluative techniques be modified to suit our economic vision? - -are evaluations for internal purposes different from those seeking to influence public debate?2. In wider economic transformation such as DEP:- How do we deal with multiple/diverse economic criteria in economic planning?- What tools support economic evaluation in DEP? - How might mainstream economic tools subvert transformative intentions?
