In my view, consciousness may be the most important blind spot in economic theory today. Consciousness concerns the inner place from which actors operate. Conventional economic theory operates on assumed given preferences – that is, a set of interior conditions from which people act. each actor and each social system has not one but multiple interior conditions that they can choose to operate from. Which set of inner conditions stakeholders choose (say, egosystem or ecosystem awareness) has a profound impact on the outcome – and is largely dependent on the context conditions (the“container”) that leadership is able to create
27 October 2022 -
"How can I invest my capital to generate sound risk-adjusted returns over the long to very long term, while simultaneously reducing environmental and ecological risks and creating a stronger, fairer society?" Moreover, note that these investments need not generate any cash return in the near term, as this would just add to the pile of surplus capital. In theory, answering this question will require a fundamental change in both mindset and methods, as traditional investment appraisal methods artificially emphasise short-term returns and ignore both longer-term risk and reward...the necessary projects are not profitable from a private-sector investor's point of view, at least not until the state has paid for the original development of the necessary technology and, in many cases, subsidised its initial deployment...Second, both owners and workers in incumbent businesses in the fossil fuel sector (and the many businesses in their supply chains) will naturally resist the rapid elimination of their jobs and profit streams, irrespective of other economic, environmental or social logic. This is fully understandable and underscores the importance of governments investing to retrain the workforce, providing unemployment benefits that make the transition bearable and stimulating the creation of new businesses and new-economy employment opportunities. With the right approach, these communities will then be able to look forward to a thriving future, rather than a slow and painful decline.In short, our environmental, ecological and socio-economic problems cannot be solved through voluntary action by individuals or the unregulated market alone. Collective (i.e. governmental) action is essential
30 May 2022 -
