The common myth today is that free trade is good and that protectionism is bad. But it all depends. Free trade easily becomes a tool to entrench the competitive advantage of the countries already ahead, and an impassable obstacle for the countries trying to catch up.
As the urgency of the combined economic, social resource and ecological crises facing humanity becomes more apparent, well-meaning policy proposals to transition to a post-growth economy are being put forward. But do they address the heart of the problem?
For those new to Doughnut Economics, the central model is the Doughnut, which brings together both social and ecological thinking into one core concept, that of meeting the needs of all people, within the means of the living planet. By Rob Shorter and Carlota Sanz.
“We still think of land as property, as inert in some way and something that we can own. What if we related to the land as an animate object and had a reciprocal relationship with it?” Discussion between Josina Calliste and Mark Walton.
Whole-systems thinking invites us to see the whole as more than the simple sum of its parts, to face complex issues from multiple perspectives, to suspend our judgement by questioning our own assumptions, and to honour insights from different disciplines and different ways of knowing.
Why have modern economic theories been so out of touch with the real world? The answer lies in their basic assumptions about human nature—that we humans mainly exist to produce and consume. This article explains the history of this economic vision and why it has failed.
Keeping nature separate from the economy and the financial system has caused humanity to accumulate a large ecological debt. It is time for us to pay up.
Ecological breakdown isn’t being caused by everyone equally. The richest 1% emit 100 times more than the poorest half of humanity. If we are going to survive the 21st century, we need to distribute income and wealth more fairly.
Economists have always taken nature for granted and kept it out of the accounting books. With humanity facing a resoucre crisis, is it even possible to put a price tag on nature and the services it provides?
A new perspective on the concept of supply and demand can transform the dynamics of society into a living system, which functions within the limits of the Earth’s carrying capacity.
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