By Tim Thornton Much economic activity is currently characterized by a linear process of ‘make-take-waste’, in which finite resources are extracted to make products that are used—often not to their full potential—and then thrown away. For example, between 2018-2023, the world consumed over 500 gigatons of materials, equivalent to 28 percent of all the materials […]
By Tim Thornton A well-being economy is orientated around promoting human well-being and ecological balance rather than focusing on ever increasing economic growth. Encouragingly, the idea of the well-being economy has transitioned from academic and community discussion to something that is being operationalized by governments. The concept of the well-being economy is being translated into […]
By Tim Thornton In recent decades, addressing climate change has gained increased attention as climate disasters have become more widespread. However, the international community is not currently on a sufficiently ambitious carbon emissions reduction trajectory to avoid non-catastrophic global warming. As illustrated in Figure 1, there is a large gap between global emissions with current […]
By Dr. Tim Thornton Anybody familiar with economics, particularly with how economics is taught, will know full well how self-interest constrained by competition is regularly championed as a general recipe for progress. However, the complexity of the real-world seldom matches the simplicity of this recipe. Indeed, many situations require a concern with the interests of […]