From the old way to the new way
How a wellbeing economy will respond to issues differently

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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.
The New Way

In a Wellbeing Economy (the “new way”), solutions are people-centred, geared towards environmental protection and regeneration, 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 affects all of our lives. There is inevitable overlap across issue areas, so there is some repetition in the table.

Issue area – choose a topic below:

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Arts
Common Good Resources
Climate crisis & communities
Community empowerment
Economics education
Education & knowledge
Finance: 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 are commodified and exploited to spur consumption and conformity.

New Way: Indicative wellbeing economy response(s)

Arts are 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 are plundered by individual companies and people without comparable contributions 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 funds.

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 are 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.

Arts
Old Way: the current system response(s)

Arts are commodified and exploited to spur consumption and conformity.

New Way: Indicative wellbeing economy response(s)

Arts are 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 are 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.

ArtsCommon Good ResourcesTab 3Tab 4
Old Way: the current system response(s)

Arts are commodified and exploited to spur consumption and conformity.

New Way: Indicative wellbeing economy response(s)

Arts are 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.

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

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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

Back to all topics >
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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Back to all topics >

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