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The Old Way
The current economic system (the “old way”) responds to the common needs of humanity and the planet in ways that do not address the heart of problems and do not make life better for all. In fact, often problems are made worse or at best, responses act as ‘sticking plasters.
The New Way
In a Wellbeing Economy (the “new way”), responses would be person-centred, geared towards environmental protection and regeneration, positive, and long-term. The exciting thing is – the new way is already emerging, with inspiring examples around the world showing us the way.
This table sets out indicative Wellbeing Economy responses to some of the major issue areas that decision makers deal with, and that affect all of our lives. There is inevitable overlap across issue areas, so there is some repetition in the table.
This chart is a work in progress and co-created with suggestions from you since launched in May 2019!
Issue area {choose topic below}
Arts | Common Good Resources | Climate Crisis & Communities | Community Empowerment | Economics education | Education & Knowledge | Finance, including investments & access to capital | Food systems | Fossil Fuels | Homes & Housing | Intergenerational Justice | In-work poverty & earnings inequality | Justice & Defence | Kindness & Compassion | Materials Cycle | Mental Health | Mental Health in the Workplace | Mindsets | Natural Capital Accounting | Pharmaceuticals | Pollution | Productivity | Purpose of the Economy | Retail | Social Care for Elderly | Work | Space & infrastructure | Taxation
Arts
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Arts commodified and exploited to spur consumption and conformity
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Arts supported as a vital part of a wellbeing economy
Arts enabled and empowered to help tell the story and paint the picture of a more humane economy
Artists inspire others to embrace aligning their purpose and calling with their vocation
Collective mechanisms to support artists’ livelihoods and collaboration
Common Good Resources
Old Way: the current system response(s)
The commons plundered by individual companies and people without comparable contribution to public revenues
Technological developments and intellectual property exploited by private owners without comparable recognition of the public investment in R&D that underpinned them
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Use of the commons and benefits from technology contribute to citizens wealth fund
Collective, deliberative management of the commons
The natural environment is valued and respected as a core shared resource
Climate Crisis & Communities
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Carbon capture and storage and emergency responses to ‘natural’ weather-related disasters
Low income communities are most affected by the climate crisis and bear most of the costs
Communities expected to increase their resilience
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Circular economy principles in manufacturing and resource use
Community-based renewable energy generation
Climate crisis mitigated
Climate justice to ensure the burden of adaptation and mitigation is shouldered by those most responsible
Community Empowerment
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Empowerment agenda without the powerful giving up or sharing power
Thin representation even when democratic systems are in place
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Subsidiarity
Deliberation
Attention paid to different styles of communication
Agendas set by communities, not just consultation on the details
Rich and robust democracy with meaningful representation, beyond party politics
Economics Education
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Curricula confined to neo-classical approaches and narrow focus on theory and models
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Pluralistic and heterodox curricula on offer
Dynamic macro modelling and systems perspective
Real-world context to the fore
Education & Knowledge
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Access is often commercialised and follows the ability to pay.
Knowledge is created in systems that are reductionist. “Need to know” basis.
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Public education is high quality, teaching and emphasising skills for relating and collaborating.
Higher education is affordable or free.
Access to knowledge is holistic and democratic. “Need to share” default.
Finance, including investments & access to capital
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Short term profit extracted to owners of capital as opposed to fair returns for workers and suppliers
‘Financial innovation’ confined to debt-based products
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Finance directed to activities with high social and environmental benefits
Long term ‘investment as commitment’
System change funds
Food systems
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Prices ignore environmental costs of production (including transport costs) and do not pay living wages to suppliers
Unhealthy addictive food is cheaper than healthy food
Small-hold producers are price takers at the beck and call of large agricultural complexes
Old Way: the current system response(s)
In-season
Locally grown, regenerative and cruelty-free
Fair value share throughout the supply chain
Plant-based diets are more common place
Fossil Fuels
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Exhaustion of remaining fossil fuel reserves seen as viable
No planning for livelihoods of workers in brownfields beyond fossil fuels, leaving communities economically stranded
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Tangible pathways of training, enterprise creation, income support for brownfield workers
Relevant skills directed to the circular economy and renewable energy
Homes and Housing
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Rationed by price, uninsulated and energy inefficient, used as investment devices by rentiers
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Co-housing
Sustainable design
Publicly and community-owned mixed with privately owned
Intergenerational Justice
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Young people engaged because they are the ‘future’ on pre-determined agendas
Young people’s knowledge is not recognised as valid or counting as much as older experts
Lack of intergenerational engagement
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Young people are sincerely and authentically engaged because they are the ‘now’
The benefit of experience of elders is recognised and cherished
Generations work together to address problems and develop the economy
Intergenerational justice is a factor in decision-making processes
In-work Poverty & Earnings Inequality
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
In-work tax credits from the state to top up inadequate wages
Large gaps between highest paid and lowest paid
Compensation committees decide remuneration rates – vested interests dominate
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Workers owning the business so have a guaranteed share of the value created by their work
Wages determined by (or better reflect) social value
The low ratio between highest and lowest paid
Justice & Defence
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Burgeoning ‘guard economy’
Access to justice is dependent on the ability to pay hence unequal and contingent on financial resources
Law of the market dominates, including through private ownership of prisons geared to deliver shareholder value
The defence sector has disproportionate expenditure, is dominated by spending power and can make use of economic conscription
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Justice is seen as a basic right of citizenship e.g. equality of access to defence/prosecution lawyers, perhaps paid or subsidised by taxes.
Wellbeing of people is at the centre of the justice system and decision making
Restorative, community-based solutions financed
Justice system to enable the general population to feel safe, to be fair and to facilitate a flourishing community. It attends to “the causes of the causes” of criminal behaviour.
The defence resources budget is consistent with Article 26 of the UN Charter which demands disarmament and reduced military expenditures as a precondition for increased security, development, and peace.
Kindness & Compassion
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Dismissed as unimportant or even non-existent due to prevailing belief in rational economic man
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Recognised as a fundamental aspect of being human and nurtured through the nature of work, design of public spaces, the nature of advertising and education, and narratives about human motivations
Prioritising care and respect for all living beings, including animals and nature
Materials Cycle
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Linear: take, make, use, waste
Planned obsolesce
Prices unrelated to environmental costs
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Circular
Extended producer responsibility
Prices of inputs and production reflect true and full cost, including environmental impacts
Local artisans delivering repair and remanufacture
‘Right to repair’ incorporated products from the initial design stage
Mental Health
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Medicalisation and emphasis on the individual to be more resilient
The monetisation of our attention by corporate media complex, building and preying on vulnerabilities
Old Way: the current system response(s)
People enabled to thrive with their basic human needs (including autonomy and relatedness) met
Relationship to nature understood and valued
Fundamental needs are met within society
Mental Health in the Workplace
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Reliance on individualised coping strategies without attending to the nature of work and causes of stress
Employees treated as ‘on-demand and disposable inputs and a cost to be minimised
The dominant culture of hierarchy and overwork
Old Way: the current system response(s)
A healthier relationship with work: jobs designed to deliver autonomy, control and relatedness; sense of purpose; and sufficient and secure source of income and hours
Jobs designed with task rotation, ability to see a process through, reward reflecting effort
Mindsets
Old Way: the current system response(s)
The dominant mindset is that there is no alternative to neoliberal capitalism and business as usual
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
The dominant mindset is that thousands of alternatives for designing economies exist – it is in our power to design economies differently.
Economies should have human and environmental wellbeing as their focus
Innovation is the norm
Natural Capital Accounting
New Way: Indicative Wellbeing Economy response(s)
Ecosystem services ignored in corporate account keeping
Old Way: the current system response(s)
Use of ecosystem services appropriately counted (may not require assigning a monetary figure)
Recognition of the inherent value of nature, beyond the services it provides to human beings