Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Living wisely: Addressing economic faults for a sustainable future

Living wisely: Addressing economic faults for a sustainable future
Getty Images

Leland R. Beaumont is an independent wisdom researcher who is seeking real good. He is currently developing the Applied Wisdom curriculum on Wikiversity.

Introduction


In a world where economic systems drive much of our decision-making, it’s imperative to scrutinize whether these systems are truly serving the greater well-being of humanity and the environment. This essay delves into critical economic faults that hinder our pursuit of a sustainable and prosperous future.

It identifies the misallocation of resources, the undervaluation of ecosystem services, the neglect of externalities, the failure to acknowledge growth limits, the oversimplified view of human behavior, and the pervasive influence of money in shaping our world. By recognizing and addressing these economic shortcomings, we can pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable society.

Sharing the Commons

Common-pool resources, such as clean air and pristine wilderness, are vital to our well-being. However, our current economic systems often fail to account for the value of these resources, allowing their exploitation for private gain. This leads to the tragedy of the commons, where shared resources are depleted by self-interested individuals. Solutions include individual restraint, cooperative agreements, government regulation, usage fees, or privatization. Advocates of free markets must propose fair solutions for the allocation of these resources.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Valuing Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services, which range from pollination by bees to clean drinking water, are indispensable to human survival. Yet, we seldom assign economic value to these services, leading to their degradation without financial consequences. Destruction of, for instance, wild bee populations, can result in substantial economic costs. Properly valuing ecosystem services can incentivize their preservation or prompt regulatory protection.

Paying for Externalities

Externalities, the unintended costs or benefits of activities, often go unaccounted for in economic models. Coal mining is a stark example of externalities, with miners bearing health risks, and communities suffering environmental consequences. To ensure honest economic analyses, externalities must be internalized, with businesses responsible for the full costs of their actions. Avoiding payment for externalities shifts the burden to others, akin to trespassing rather than freedom.

Acknowledging Limits to Growth

The pursuit of endless economic growth, often measured by GDP, has led to various crises, from financial collapses to environmental degradation. An obsession with growth, regardless of its consequences, is unsustainable. We must recognize that unlimited growth is a fallacy and poses risks to our planet and well-being.

Humans are Complex Actors

Economic theories often oversimplify human behavior, assuming rationality and ignoring intrinsic motivations, social influences, and conflicts between short-term and long-term goals. Behavioral economics challenges these simplistic models, revealing the multifaceted nature of human decision-making. Realizing the complexity of human behavior is crucial for crafting effective economic policies.

Money is Power

Money wields significant influence in politics, research, and various industries. Its power distorts democracy, research agendas, and societal values. Many economic faults underpin this influence, highlighting the need for more equitable and accurate economic models.

An Inaccurate Model

Our current economic models are flawed, leading to false signals in our financial accounting systems. Economics, as a money-based model, must align with the realities of economies, the exchange of valuable goods and services. The gap between the two is widening, necessitating a shift towards more accurate and holistic economic models.

Taking Action

To address these economic faults and forge a sustainable future, we must challenge arguments that prioritize economic growth over well-being and environmental health. This requires advocating for fair resource allocation, valuing ecosystem services, internalizing externalities, acknowledging growth limits, considering human complexity, and combating the undue influence of money. A focus on genuine prosperity, grounded in well-being and sustainability, is essential.

Conclusion

Living wisely entails recognizing and rectifying the economic faults that hinder our collective well-being and environmental sustainability. By addressing these issues and shifting our focus from mindless growth to meaningful well-being, we can foster a society that values peace, integrity, clean air, clean water, and the beauty of nature. The path forward involves redefining prosperity, embracing sustainability, and working together to bring wisdom to life in our economic systems and everyday choices.

This article was generated by ChatGPT based on the previously written essay Economic

Read More

Houses with price tags
retrorocket/Getty Images

Are housing costs driving inflation in 2024?

This fact brief was originally published by EconoFact. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Are housing costs driving inflation in 2024?

Yes.

The rise in housing costs has been a major source of overall inflation, which was 2.9% in the 12 months ending in July 2024.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' shelter index, which includes housing costs for renters and homeowners, rose 5.1% in the 12 months ending in July 2024.

Keep ReadingShow less
I Voted stickers
BackyardProduction/Getty Images

Voters cast ballots based on personal perceptions, not policy stances

The Fulcrum and the data analytics firm Fidelum Partners have just completed a nationally representative study assessing the voting intentions of U.S adults and their perceptions toward 18 well-known celebrities and politicians.

Fidelum conducted similar celebrity and politician election studies just prior to the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Each of these found that perceptions of warmth, competence and admiration regarding the candidates are highly predictive of voting intentions and election outcomes. Given this, The Fulcrum and Fidelum decided to partner on a 2024 celebrity and politician election study to build upon the findings of prior research.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hand waving an American flag

"Freedom, a word that should inspire, has been distorted to justify the unchecked pursuit of individual interests at the expense of collective well-being," writes Johnson.

nicoletaionescu/Getty Images

Redefining America's political lingua franca

Johnson is a United Methodist pastor, the author of "Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community" and program director for the Bridge Alliance, which houses The Fulcrum.

A seismic shift has occurred in America's race, identity and power discourse. Like tectonic plates beneath the Earth's surface, long-held assumptions are adjusting and giving way to a reimagined lingua franca for civic engagement. This revived language of liberation redefines the terms of debate. It empowers us to reclaim and reinvigorate words once weaponized principally against marginalized communities.

Keep ReadingShow less
Latino attendees of the Democratic National Convention

People cheer for the Harris-Walz ticket at the Democratic National Convention.

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Harris’ nomination ‘hit a reset button’ for Latinas supporting Democrats

As the presidential race entered the summer months, President Joe Biden’s level of support among Latinx voters couldn’t match the winning coalition he had built in 2020. Among Latinas, a critical group of voters who tend to back Democrats at higher levels than Latinos, lagging support had begun to worry Stephanie Valencia, who studies voting patterns among Latinx voters across the country for Equis Research, a data analytics and research firm.

Then the big shake-up happened: Biden stepped down and Vice President Kamala Harris took his place at the top of the Democratic ticket fewer than 100 days before the election.

Valencia’s team quickly jumped to action. The goal was to figure out how the move was sitting with Latinx voters in battleground states that will play an outsized role in deciding the election. After surveying more than 2,000 Latinx voters in late July and early August, Equis found a significant jump in support for the Democratic ticket, a shift that the team is referring to as “the Latino Reset.”

Keep ReadingShow less