Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

by Kate Raworth

The word ‘economics’ was coined by the philosopher Xenophon in Ancient Greece. Combining oikos, meaning household, with nomos, meaning rules or norms, he invented the art of household management, and it could not be more relevant today.

Today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive: what we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.

As economist Tim Jackson deftly put it, we are ‘persuaded to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to make impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about’.

First, rather than narrowly self-interested we are social and reciprocating. Second, in place of fixed preferences, we have fluid values. Third, instead of isolated we are interdependent. Fourth, rather than calculate, we usually approximate. And fifth, far from having dominion over nature, we are deeply embedded in the web of life.