Books and Banter B


Thinking Beyond Consumption


Inclusive growth is an economic model that is taking hold as global leaders and economists embrace the realisation that infinite growth at the cost of the environment and people is not sustainable. The new 21st


-century economic


model needs to take environmental and social well-being into account, and position those considerations above mere financial gains.


As this thinking gains traction, the number of books tackling the subject is increasing. Kate Raworth, an economist and Senior Visiting Research Associate and advisory board member at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, entered the debate in 2013 with her book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st


-Century Economist (Chelsea Green). Hers was


one of the first mainstream books to discuss the notion of inclusive growth.


South Africa’s very own Lorenzo Fioramonti, professor of political economy at the University of Pretoria, is another advocate for change in the economic mindset. He talks about the “wellbeing economy”, with a focus on emerging markets, and has written several books on the subject, most recently Wellbeing Economy: Success in a World Without Growth (Pan Macmillan).


Doughnut Economics


What is the premise? Raworth defines doughnut economics as: “[Ensuring] that no- one falls short on life’s essentials [from food and housing to healthcare and having a political voice], while ensuring that collectively, we don’t overshoot our pressure on the earth’s life-


supporting systems on which we fundamentally depend – such as a stable climate, fertile soils and a protective ozone layer.”


Why a doughnut? Raworth depicts the inclusive economy as a doughnut, with the hole in the cen- tre highlighting those individuals around the world who are not gaining access to life’s essentials. The crust of the doughnut represents the limits to which we can push the world’s resources. The doughnut itself is the safe space.


What makes this thinking different? In a world where we operate with a fundamentally flawed economic model, Raworth introduces us to a new way of thinking by suggesting that outdated approaches are among the leading causes of global economic inequality and the degeneration of the global environment.


What are the “action” steps? Raworth suggests a fresh way of doing business and offers seven steps which will help us ensure future economic, social and environmental sustainability. As part of this journey, she investigates what makes humankind tick and looks at the character of the “rational economic man”. She also goes into the problem of volatile economies, focusing on the cycles of “boom and bust”, as well as speaking vociferously about our need for energy and our abuse of our natural resources.


A Wellbeing Mindset


What is the premise? Lorenzo Fioramonti believes that although very few people actually understand concepts such as gross domestic product (GDP)


and economic growth, they continue to follow the proponents of this approach blindly. However, since the global economic crash of 2008, growth – especially in the developed world – has been subdued. In this book, Fioramonti questions whether a low-growth environment is really a bad thing.


What makes this thinking different? Employ- ing a particular focus on emerging economies, Fioramonti questions the world’s obsession with economic growth to, he believes, the detriment of the poor and the environment, using real-life examples and innovative research to make his point. He contends that the pursuit of growth results in more losses than gains and is possibly the leading cause of economic inequality and global conflict. Like Raworth, he offers radical new ideas in the search for economic, social and environmental sustainability.


What are the “action” steps? As Fioramonti wrote in a recent article on The Conversation platform: “I argue that as we begin to recognise the madness behind growth, we start exploring new paths. These include forms of business that reconcile human needs with natural equilibria; production processes that emancipate people from the passive role of consumers, and systems of social organisation at the local level that reconnect individuals with their communities and ` ecosystems, while allowing them to participate in a global network of active change-makers. This is what I call the ‘wellbeing economy’. In it, development lies not in the exploitation of natural and human resources, but in improving the quality and effectiveness of human-to-human and human-to-ecosystem interactions, supported by appropriate enabling technologies.”


Did You Know?


Encouraging financial inclusion as part of an all-embracing economy is easier said than done: just ask women around the world.


A new study by the International Monetary Fund’s Corinne Delechat, Monique Newiak and Rui Xu, together with the University of Delaware’s Fan Yang and Göksu Aslan from the University of Milan-Bicocca, shows a robust negative relation- ship between being female and financial inclusion. The analysis, based on a comprehensive micro- level dataset for 140 countries around the world, shows that legal discrimination, a lack of protection from harassment (including in the workplace) and more diffuse gender norms contribute to the fact that “financial inclusion isn’t gender-neutral, with large gaps in access levels between men and women in most countries”.


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B Bedtime Reading


• Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy by Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake (2018, Princeton University Press)


• Economics for the Common Good by Jean Tirole (2017, Princeton University Press) • Globalisation, Growth and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy by Paul Collier and David Dollar (2001, World Bank Publications)


• Gross Domestic Problem: The Politics Behind the World’s Most Powerful Number by Lorenzo Fioramonti (2013, Zed Books)


• How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics by Lorenzo Fioramonti (2014, Zed Books)


• Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow by Tim Jackson (2016, Routledge)


• Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth by Michael Jacobs and Mariana Mazzucato (2016, Wiley-Blackwell)


• The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth and Increase Inequality by Brink Lindsey and Steven Teles (2017, Oxford University Press)


• The World After GDP: Politics, Business and Society in the Post-Growth Era by Lorenzo Fioramonti (2017, Polity)


• Towards an Inclusive Democracy: The Crisis of the Growth Economy and the Need for a New Liberatory Project by Takis Fotopoulos (1998, Continuum)


• Wellbeing Economy: Success in a World Without Growth by Lorenzo Fioramonti (2017, Pan Macmillan)


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