Overview
A wellbeing economy is an economic system explicitly designed to deliver human and ecological wellbeing rather than to maximise GDP growth. The term encompasses several related frameworks — the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework, Scotland and Iceland’s Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership, and Kate Raworth’s doughnut economics — all of which redefine success by measuring what actually matters to people and to the biosphere.
The core critique: GDP measures the volume of monetised transactions, not whether those transactions increase flourishing. GDP rises when people get sick and need treatment; it rises when forests are cleared for agriculture; it does not capture inequality, leisure, unpaid care work, or ecological health. A wellbeing economy substitutes richer metrics covering income security, health, education, environmental quality, and social connection.
Earth for All and the wellbeing economy
“Earth for All” (Club of Rome, 2022) treats the wellbeing economy as the destination that the Giant Leaps are designed to reach. The book argues:
- Developed economies approaching or past “peak wellbeing” — additional GDP growth adds little to life satisfaction but significant environmental damage
- Emerging economies still need real improvements in material living standards, but through clean technology pathways, not fossil-fuel replication
- The goal is to decouple human flourishing from physical throughput — more wellbeing, less material consumption
The Earth4All model (see Earth4All model) uses wellbeing indicators alongside GDP to evaluate scenarios: the Giant Leaps scenario produces markedly better wellbeing outcomes while keeping resource consumption closer to Planetary boundaries.
Relation to doughnut economics
Kate Raworth’s doughnut economics framework (2017) is a close relative: the doughnut’s inner ring (social foundation) corresponds to the wellbeing floor, while its outer ring (ecological ceiling) maps directly onto planetary boundaries. Earth for All can be read as a quantitative, policy-operational version of the doughnut — specifying which interventions cross the social floor without breaching the ecological ceiling.
GDP beyond GDP
Key alternative metrics proposed within wellbeing economy frameworks:
- Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) — adjusts GDP for inequality, unpaid work, environmental costs, and defensive expenditures
- Human Development Index (HDI) — UN composite of income, health, and education
- Wellbeing scores — Cantril ladder, subjective life satisfaction surveys
- Planetary health check — dashboard of Planetary boundaries indicators
- Inclusive Wealth Index — World Bank; values produced capital, human capital, and natural capital
Degrowth vs green growth
The wellbeing economy sits at the contested border between degrowth and green growth. Degrowth advocates argue GDP must shrink in rich nations to stay within planetary limits; green growth advocates argue decoupling — producing more value with less material throughput — is achievable at scale. Earth for All takes a pragmatic middle position: rich nations should prioritise wellbeing and allow GDP to plateau or decline if necessary; developing nations need growth but through clean technology. The authors call this “post-growth” rather than degrowth, reserving degrowth for contexts where material throughput must fall.
Resources
- 2026-06-05 ◦ Earth for All — Dixson-Declève et al. (Club of Rome, 2022) — wellbeing economy as the explicit goal of the Giant Leaps; argues developed nations are past peak wellbeing-GDP return; discusses decoupling and post-growth framing