The World on a Collision Course and the Need for a New Economy

Abstract

The first part of the paper is an attempt to demonstrate that what we are going through at the present time is not just an economic-financial crisis, but a crisis of humanity. It seems that for the first time in human history several crises converge to simultaneously reach their maximum level of tension. The dominant economic model is to a great degree responsible for the world's collision course. Hence a number of myths that sustain the model are listed and analyzed. It is argued that a new economy, coherent with the problematiques of the twenty first century, needs urgently to be devised. The second part proposes the foundations for a new economy based on five fundamental postulates that allow the construction of transdisciplinary, holistic, and systemic visions to adequately understand the interdependence of all the elements that sustain life. It is stressed that it is no longer acceptable that Universities still teach economic theories of the nineteenth century in order to tackle twenty first century problems that have no precedence.

Determining Localisation Metrics

“…Globalisation has long been described as destructive of local cultures and environments, and as a result to be causing a dangerous socio-ecological crisis whereby local, self-reliant economies, communities and environments decay or collapse as they are displaced by monetary economies, media and consumer ideologies (for examples see Daly 1990;Doyle 1998;Holmgren 2009;Keynes 1933;Mander and Goldsmith 2001;Max-Neef 2010;Norberg-Hodge 2008Scholte 2008;Schumacher 1973;Shiva 2005;Trainer 2010a;Victor and Jackson 2012). Due to these effects many claim that sustainability strategising based on globalisation is ineffective and destructive, stating the need for alternative measures (Cavanagh and Mander 2004;Lamberton 2005;Martinez-Alier 2008;Meadows and Randers 2004;Norberg-Hodge 2010;O'Riordan 2012;Shiva 2005;WCED 1987).…”

Placing Wellbeing

“…This has led to calls to go beyond economic measures of social progress, and also to wellbeing becoming a central governing policy concept (e.g. Bina and Vaz 2011;Jackson 2010;Max-Neef 2010).…”

Optimality of Social Choice Systems: Complexity, Wisdom, and Wellbeing Centrality

“…Some academics have advocated for this type of program [17,18,7,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]. Nevertheless, the academic effort remains nascent.…”

“…Manfred Max-Neef contends that human needs are, and always have been, few, interrelated, and co-existing. He identifies nine categories: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom [20]. 12 Future economic systems might gain complexity by engaging these needs more directly, rather than through simpler surrogates.…”