Wellbeing Economy

Lorenzo Fioramonti

Description

Economic growth is a constant mantra of politicians, economists and the media. Few understand what it is, but they love and follow it blindly. The reality is that since the global financial crisis, growth has vanished in the more industrialised economies and in the so-called developing countries. Politicians may be panicking, but is this really a bad thing?

Using real-life examples and innovative research, acclaimed political economist Lorenzo Fioramonti lays bare society’s perverse obsession with economic growth by showing its many flaws, paradoxes and inconsistencies. He argues that the pursuit of growth often results in more losses than gains and in damage, inequalities and conflicts.

By breaking free from the growth mantra, we can build a better society that puts the wellbeing of all at its centre. A wellbeing economy would have tremendous impact on everything we do, boosting small businesses and empowering citizens as the collective leaders of tomorrow.

Wellbeing Economy is a manifesto for radical change in South Africa and beyond.

Sujets

• Vente
• Marketing stratégique
• Business
• Economics
• Political economy
• Consumerism
• Marketing et communication
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Consumer Behavior
• Gestion des ventes

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 04 août 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781770105188
• Langue: English

Extrait

WELLBEING ECONOMY


To my wife and my children, who live in the wellbeing economy with me.


LORENZO FIORAMONTI
WELLBEING ECONOMY
Success in a World Without Growth
MACMILLAN


First published in 2017
by Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X 19, Northlands
Johannesburg, 2116
www.panmacmillan.co.za
ISBN 978-1-77010-517-1
eBook ISBN 978-1-77010-518-8
© Lorenzo Fioramonti 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All photographs supplied are courtesy of the author and from his personal collection.
Editing by Russell Martin
Proofreading by Kelly Norwood-Young
Design and typesetting by Triple M Design, Johannesburg
Cover design by MR Design


CONTENTS
(Un)acknowledgements
Introduction: The time for a wellbeing economy is now
1. Welcome to the world without growth
2. Business for wellbeing: Unmasking the ‘invisible foot’ and other common mystifications
3. Politics for wellbeing: From passive consumers to active change makers
4. Society for wellbeing: The ‘visible hand’ and the transformative power of education
Conclusion: How you and I can build the wellbeing economy
Achieving sustainable and equitable wellbeing in South Africa: A manifesto for change
Notes
Pictures


(UN)ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Books normally begin with a list of thanks. But often the intellectual and research journey of writing a book is paved with obstacles and unhelpful people too. So, for this book, I’d like to start with the hurdles that undermine the development of a wellbeing economy every single day.
Many people around me hold behaviours and follow routines that are simply irrational. Many of my neighbours refuse to install a solar panel or a water harvesting system, even as we have frequent blackouts and water shortages. They pride themselves on being masochistic and self-destructive. The same applies to many administrators at my university (and most universities), who seem intent on sabotaging any new idea, not because they don’t like it, but because they think that new is bad. For them, things must be done as they always have been, even when their rules suppress free thinking among students, support large service providers at the expense of small businesses, and result in wastage of resources and alienation of the workforce.
I would also like to ‘unacknowledge’ all those businesses that try to undermine any efforts at changing the way we produce. In particular, I would like to point out the fossil fuel companies and the mining industry, especially those that ‘pretend’ to care about the environment and society. And the many organisations and academics that happily accept funding from them. Then I would single out most commercial banks, which prey on consumers to get more indebted, luring them with all sorts of dubious financial products, which many people simply don’t understand. Finally, I would like to ‘unacknowledge’ the politicians and public administrators who, despite their sheer ignorance about the dark sides of growth, believe they know better than the thousands of innovators, social entrepreneurs, scientists and activists who are already building the wellbeing economy described in this book. If it weren’t for the opposition of such political systems, the actions of these innovators would have a much greater and systemic impact.
Now it’s time for the good guys. I want to thank my friends at the Global Wellbeing Lab, some of whom I have explicitly cited in this book (with their consent). I would also like to acknowledge the phenomenal contribution made by my colleagues at the Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity ( www.asap4all.org ), especially Robert Costanza, Enrico Giovannini, Katherine Trebeck, Ida Kubiszewski, Dirk Philipsen, Kate Pickett, Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir, Lars Fogh Mortensen, Roberto de Vogli and Richard Wilkinson. The top leadership of the University of Pretoria has always been on my side, even when my disruptive style made many colleagues unhappy; I’m grateful for their support. My final thanks go to my team at the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation of the University of Pretoria, to the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition at Stellenbosch University, to my fellow change makers at WE-Africa.org and to the Future Africa team.
You are all welcome to the wellbeing economy.


INTRODUCTION
The time for a wellbeing economy is now
Look around you. What do you see? You see a world in debt. People are struggling to make ends meet. Jobs are being lost; currencies crumble and life becomes more expensive every day. Financial markets have become casinos, with speculation continuing unabated despite the disaster of repeated crises. You see, as well, exorbitant amounts of wealth being amassed by a few individuals, while the middle classes shrink and the poor fall into extreme deprivation. The richest 1% owns as much wealth as the remaining 99%, while the wealthiest 62 individuals worldwide have more than the poorest 50% of the global population. Among the hundred richest entities on the globe, there are more private individuals and companies than nations. Millions of desperate people risk their lives every day, migrating away from lands that have been exploited and impoverished, only to find their deathbed in the abysses of our seas or on the barbed wire of our borders. At the same time, millions of tourists crisscross the skies hopping from one exotic holiday destination to another.
Human beings have lost a sense of purpose. They simply repeat irrational routines every day and too many have lost the compass, which explains one of the most miserable untold truths of our time: more people die from suicides than wars and natural disasters combined, especially among the youngest, who have no confidence in the future. 1
What else do you see? A broken planet. Climate change. Ecological mayhem, natural disasters, biodiversity loss. A small minority consumes more than 75% of all planetary resources. Every minute, 41 hectares of trees are felled, the equivalent of 50 football fields. Most land has been replaced by concrete, with more people living in urbanised areas than in rural localities. Water is running out. Food is trashed rather than made available to hungry mouths. In some countries, the air is so dirty that people have to wear masks when outdoors. Have you ever heard of plastiglomerates? These are stones containing sedimentary grains and natural debris that are held together by hardened molten plastic. They are like fossils created by plastic, which will last for millions of years and potentially turn human pollution into a main factor in geological records. And the Great Pacific garbage patch? This is a trash vortex trapped in the middle of the ocean, extending for twice the size of the United States. Waste is everywhere. In Hong Kong beaches are so filthy that they look like dumping grounds. We throw away enough stuff to fill a line of trucks from New York to Los Angeles, or the distance between Cape Town and Nairobi, every single day. 2
This is the world we have built in our blind pursuit of something called ‘economic growth’. We have sacrificed all other important aspects of life to gain another notch in the gross domestic product (GDP). The countries championing this development model, from the United States to Europe and China, have been rewarded with power, prestige and influence. The pursuit of growth has become more than a national policy: it is a global beauty contest. We have done this intentionally, because we have been told (by economists, financiers, political advisers, bankers and others) that the pursuit of growth is the only way to develop. It is the magic bullet for building a great future for all.
Of course, it’s not all bad around us. Many people have been lifted out of poverty, life expectancy has increased, and more and more kids have been given access to formal education. The conventional belief is that we have achieved this progress thanks to growth, but the evidence is much more nuanced. As a matter of fact, countries that succeeded at achieving high levels of human development, from Scandinavia to South Korea, did so because of purposeful restrictions on the unbridled powers of growth. They imposed limits on corporate profits, pursued income and wealth redistribution, protected families and communities, guaranteed a good work–life balance and invested heavily in social welfare. Even if we were to believe the conventional ‘story’ that growth brings about a better quality of life for all, the simple fact that growth is responsible for an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic social and environmental crisis compels us to rethink this development approach. More recently, we have learned that economic recessions (that is, phases in which growth disappears) can coexist with the creation of good-quality jobs if embedded in a system of social cohesion whereby communities help each other, while growth can pick up steam amid high unemployment (hence the term ‘jobless recovery’). Japan, which has been in a prolonged economic depression for over two decades, has one of the world’s highest levels of human development and longevity. According to Harvard University, Japan is also the most diversified and mature economy in the world. 3 As indicated in The New York Times , ‘people in Japan are beginning to wonder whether those “two lost decades” really were “lost” after all. Perhaps those years were