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Introduction
In the book “Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist,” Kate Raworth (2018) presents a new economic paradigm that is sustainable-oriented in contrast to the currently dominant orientation to growth. The author calls the suggested model doughnut economics, which summarizes and structures in a simple and accessible manner all the aspects necessary to consider to achieve long-lasting worldwide prosperity. Based on this framework, the economy should seek to balance the two boundaries, namely ‘social foundation’ and ‘ecological ceiling’.
On the one hand, human efforts should be directed at ensuring that every individual on the planet has access to the basic goods and services which are essential for living life with dignity. In this regard, there are twelve social foundational components discussed by Raworth in the book, which were adopted from the Sustainable Development Goals developed by United Nations. They include such spheres as income and work, health, education, peace and justice, social equity, political voice, food, networks, housing, gender equality, water, and food (Raworth, 2018). On the other hand, people should avoid overproduction which exceeds and disrupts the environment’s ability to maintain itself. As such, the current spheres of concern entail ocean acidification, air, and chemical pollution, climate change, the biodiversity crisis, land deforestation, ozone depletion, freshwater consumption level, and nitrogen and phosphorus loading.
Therefore, it is seen that while the former boundary determines the minimum economic performance level, the latter sets the maximum production borders that should not be crossed. Yet, the old paradigm that is oriented on profit and constant growth cannot ensure that the economy is in a balanced state between the two ‘doughnut’ boundaries. History proved that such a system only produces substantial inequalities and leads to reoccurring crises. Thus, Raworth (2018) maintains that all the decision-makers in the sphere of politics and economics adopt the doughnut model as a criterion of success. The author believes that only in this case is change possible. In this regard, to illustrate what transformations may arise from this paradigm shift Raworth discusses the strategies and policies that are inherent to doughnut economics. The current report will discuss some of the actions that the author proposes choosing the three components from the ‘social foundation’, namely energy, education, and gender equality, as an example.
The Three Social Foundational Components
First of all, the energy component refers to the access by individuals or households to electricity. It is important not only because the latter allows having a comfortable life, but also because it is associated with healthy eating. As such, many people without available electric power use coal for cooking which produces poisonous emissions. Moreover, access to energy is strongly associated with the overall socio-economic development of the region. To address this issue, the strategy that should be adopted refers to providing access to renewable energy sources in all communities. It will help to improve people’s health equity and well-being by minimizing land and water pollution by plants and reducing food contamination. Such a strategy can be realized through the education of local people on how they can assemble wind turbines from available materials, including old tractors or bicycle parts.
Secondly, the education component is related to the notion that better knowledge can enhance labor quality and performance, provide work opportunities, and increase awareness concerning one’s health. As for the latter, the specific strategy would include implementing social nudging and network influence. For instance, the author mentions that SMS messaging that reminds patients with HIV to take medicine on time significantly increases survival rates.
Finally, the third component refers to the achieving of equality between genders. It is based on the evidence that women usually are underrepresented in management positions and get paid less for the same amount of work compared to men. Therefore, the main strategies to fix this issue entail empowering women through education and encouraging them to participate in politics and business actively. For example, Raworth mentions that in West Bengal, the girls started being highly motivated to become more educated and aspire for higher positions as soon as the local community began appointing women as village leaders. As a result, these measures would primarily improve women’s mental health as they are less exposed to abuse and are more aware of their rights.
From Strategies to Policies
Additionally to the general strategies, Raworth also mentions concrete policies that can be implemented to induce changes. For instance, concerning the problem of spreading the usage of renewable energy, the author suggests imposing additional taxes on those companies that are highly polluting, rewarding the ‘clean’ organizations, and offering renewable energy subsidies. As for the education sphere, it is argued that the government should actively build schools in smaller communities, provide free education, and subsidize parents whose children are in schools. Last but not least, policies that address gender inequality may include legal protection of maternal and paternal leave and the improvement of women’s reproductive healthcare.
Measuring Success
At last, it is necessary to discuss certain metrics that would allow measuring the extent of success that the policies mentioned above have. Firstly, to assess access to renewable energy, such indexes as the number of solar panels divided by the number of people in the community can be developed. Additionally, the number of wind turbines in the area can be counted. Secondly, to assess the success of educational policies, the data concerning the region’s literacy rate can be considered. Moreover, scholars can track how many children from 7-18, for example, go to school. As for gender equality, the ratio of women to men in the top management and statistics of average salary by gender can be good measures of the policies’ success.
Conclusion
In summary, the current report discussed the framework developed by Kate Raworth called doughnut economics. It examined what such terms as ‘social foundation’ boundary and ‘ecological ceiling’ boundary entail and why it is quite difficult to remain within those two boundaries under the currently prevailing economic paradigm. Furthermore, the three components of ‘social foundation’, namely energy, education, and gender equality, were reviewed in detail. As for the former, Raworth maintains that access to sustainable energy sources leads to increased population longevity, improved health, and faster socio-economic development. In a similar vein, better education is related to greater quality and performance of labor and higher awareness about one’s health. Lastly, gender equality is necessary as it ensures that the interests of both sexes are equally represented and satisfied, which can significantly increase the mental health of women.
Next, the report analyzed relevant policies and strategies that the author suggests concerning those three spheres. They include such measures as subsidies for organizations directed on the use of renewable energy, sanctions towards polluting companies, investments in educational infrastructure, providing free education, investments in reproductive healthcare, and better legal protection of women. Finally, the report proposed metrics to measure the success of the latter policies and strategies. It is suggested to track the proportion of windmills/solar panels overpopulation, literacy index, school attendance rate, and the ratio of women to men in the top management. As a consequence, such steps would ensure that people preserve the planet for future generations and enjoy unprecedented equality of opportunities for all.
Reference
Raworth, K. (2018). Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. Chelsea Green Publishing.
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