Wellbeing, choice and sustainability: What should economic policy target in a new era economy?

Article

The causal links between GDP growth and income, and between income and wellbeing and opportunity, have broken down. As a result, policy should now focus directly on the wellbeing and choice of current and future generations. Rather than being directed at maximising GDP, policy should seek the highest level of wellbeing and choice for the current population that is compatible with offering at least the same level of wellbeing and choice to future generations.

Dethroning growth from the central role in policymaking is not the same as arguing for no growth. Increased GDP and income can play an important role in laying the foundations of wellbeing: infrastructure, health and education. It can also help to ensure sustainability through the generation of funds for investment in green technologies. GDP growth would become one of many indicators that might contribute to sustainable worthwhile lives - in the right form, under the right circumstances.

What is needed now is a clear political consensus around wellbeing, choice and sustainability as the primary goals of the economy and society and the creation of a system of governance that promotes them.

Related items

  1. A front three quarter length view of a small group of university students walking together talking in the city on an autumn day in Newcastle, England

    A generation apart? Youth politics, alienation and democratic renewal in Britain

    Public debate about young people and politics is loud, contested – and largely wrong.

  2. Britain’s broken social contract: Young people have lost faith in their future

    Drawing on new evidence, this blog examines the decline in young people’s optimism about work, success and social mobility, and argues for a new deal to rebuild trust in Britain’s social contract.
  3. Female beggar in London. Sitting on a bag, with a blanket round her legs and a blue hood and brown coat. A newspaper and litter is on the path as she rests with a hand out against a map as people walk past

    Closing the gaps: Immigration status and homelessness

    Homelessness in England is on the rise, including among migrants and refugees.