BUSINESS MAVERICK 168: Wellbeing that makes ‘cents’

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A wellbeing economy is not a utopian ideal, it’s understanding the difference between how much you consume and how well you consume as a key to a healthier, happier life. Professor of political economy Lorenzo Fioramonti gets it.

A good day in the office is one that comes to an end. Lorenzo Fioramonti knows there’s a point where productive work becomes drudgery, and adding more hours to the mix hoping for a different outcome is wishful thinking or plain stupidity.

Giving a damn about others comes with trusting that there is enough to go around because a society deliberately sets it up that way. It also means personal aspiration, pursuit of happiness and defining individual needs and fulfilment are not nonsense whims, but part of what a healthy collective of people enjoy. It’s not a quest for everyone to be equal, it’s for societies to be more equitable, says Fioramonti.

Making a wellbeing economy a reality means breaking free from thinking about success or happiness as what comes from perpetual growth, from endless consumption, accumulating stuff and the fixation on measuring standards like GDP data . It’s also not destitution or subsistence as the lowest bar of survival, nor does it mean you have to give up your cappuccino and swear off your spa dates.

Making a leap to a wellbeing economy does take effort, of course, and very real targets must be met. Governments need to invest in quality public health systems and early childhood education and support. It’s also paying better living wages to the most vulnerable, and safety nets for those without work. There’s a focus on taxing wealth more – that surplus – and not income, and using innovative incentives to normalise healthier choices.

With his part-outsider’s eye he reminds South Africans of the advantages that maybe South Africans overlook too easily. “It’s precisely because I wanted to apply principles of a wellbeing economy [to] daily politics, government action and economics. It’s for people to look at how they are living and the effects it has on their health. At school level you can start changing young minds early on,” he says.

 

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