New Economic Paradigm Principles Identified
By: Steve Waddell and Sandra Waddock
A new economic paradigm is arising beyond the traditional 19th century-based ones of capitalism, communism and socialism. Currently the arising paradigm is masked by numerous labels such as regenerative, Indigenous, circular, doughnut, common good, and ecological economics. We are part of a global team looked at 238 foundational documents across 38 new economics approaches and identified ten connecting principles and narratives for reconceiving economics. Our report, Ten principles for transforming economics in a time of global crises, was published on May 22 in the prestigious journal Nature Sustainability.
Transforming economics is crucial to address the deteriorating natural environment and human suffering caused by inequality. But what should the transformed economics look like? Over the past few years, theories and experiments with new approaches have burgeoned. The study looked at them to see if they describe collectively a comprehensive and harmonious foundation for a new economic paradigm. Synthesizing these different approaches produced 10 principles for transforming economics grouped within four categories:
Holistic Principles
1. Social-ecological embeddedness and holistic wellbeing: Recognize that economies are embedded within societies and ecosystems and that the basic purpose of economics is to support human and planetary well-being;
2. Interdisciplinarity and complexity thinking: Acknowledge complexity and the need for interdisciplinarity in addressing economic problems;
Economic Principles
3. Limits to growth: Acknowledge that economies have fundamental biophysical and biochemical limits to growth;
4. Limited substitutability of natural capital: Recognize that human-derived capital depends on nature;
5. Regenerative design: Design economic systems to be circular and regenerative;
Social Principles
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6. Holistic perspectives on people and values: Embed pluralistic models of values and behavior, based on well-being, dignity, sufficiency and holistic freedom in all economic thinking, decisions and actions;
7. Equity, equality, and justice: Consider equity, equality and justice as central questions of economic enquiry;
Political Economy Principles
8. Relationality and social enfranchisement: Embrace pluralistic social and relational approaches that support social enfranchisement, social needs and the common good;
9. Participation, deliberation and cooperation: Embed participation, deliberation and cooperation as core to economic thinking and policy
10. Post-capitalism and decolonization: Take post-capitalist, decolonized economic perspectives.
Individually the new economies approaches emphasize different parts of the needed whole to form a comprehensive new economic paradigm. For example: regenerative economics focuses on the interconnectedness and vitality of living systems; indigenous economics incorporates traditional knowledge; circular economics emphasizes waste reduction; doughnut economics balances human needs with planetary boundaries; common good economics prioritizes collective well-being; and ecological economics integrates ecological health into economic planning. The Table looks at the different economic approaches in terms of the principles they emphasize.
This synthesis is vital to engaging the broader public to become a powerful movement that can transform economics away from today’s destructive and exploitative take-make-waste approaches. The ‘innovations adoption curve’ developed by Everett Rogers is a useful tool for understanding why such principles and shared narratives are needed. As the figure indicates, early on new ideas are held by small groups of innovators and early adopters. The real challenge is to enlist what is known as the early majority. This much broader set of innovators can really push new ways of thinking and acting forwards. Using the ten principles, the early majority could advance a whole new human and life-centered approach to economics. Broader adoption means that the so-called ‘late majority’ and eventually even laggards need to adopt new ideas, replacing the old ways of thinking about economics with, in this case, a new set of socially- and ecologically-informed set of principles.
The ten principles can be helpful for movement building in at least three ways. They can spur conversation within and between those advocating a particular approach about whether a principle is aligned, but simply not yet recognized; or whether there are conflicts that require addressing. They can also help in designing possible unifying economic futures and collaborative pathways to realizing them. As well the principles can be elaborated into a framework to assess whether proposed and current actions are developing in an aligned direction that supports a positive future for humanity — and for the rest of nature.
You can read and download the paper here. It is a collaboration of Jasper Kenter, @Simone Martino, Sam Buckton, Sandra Waddock, @Bina Agarwal, Annela Anger-Kraavi, Robert Costanza, @Adam Hejnovic, Peter Jones, @Jordan Blanchard-Lafayette, @Jane Mariara, Nibedita Mukherjee, Kate Pickett, Chris Riedy and Steve Waddell.
