New Economics

The New Economics: From Scarcity to Abundance

The very basis of modern economic thought predicts the demise of economics as we know it. And we’re better for it. Economics assumes scarcity. It is defined as the distribution of scarce resources. Such an assumption is bound to lead to fear of loss, hoarding of resources and greed. Indeed, stock market analysts describe the market as being driven by relative levels of fear and greed, fear supporting a bear market, and greed propelling a bull market.

The 2008 global economic crisis begs some questions about our assumptions. Clearly, many nations are doing all they can think of to preserve the old assumptions, and seemingly, to no avail. But, perhaps the desire for change is not limited to the American people, and goes far beyond political leadership. Perhaps Americans and people around the world want a more democratic economic system, along with a more democratic practice of democracy. And maybe, just maybe, we’re ready to grow beyond fear and greed as the fuel of our exchanges with one another. Greener economic fuel will protect our social atmosphere, as well as propel us safely into the future.

What if we assume that our resources are abundant, rather than scarce? One resource in particular is nearly infinite: human creativity. With this primary resource we continually change the landscape of human society. From fashion to fitness, from farms to flags, it is human creativity that brings us products, plans and ideas. With an assumption of abundance, we can move beyond the co-dependent economics of concentrated wealth, poverty, unfulfilling jobs and entitlements. We can move into a free and vivacious exchange of creativity, advancing to a steady state of provision for us all. As we bring into the human discussion those minds that are now silent because they do not believe that they have anything to contribute, or that their voices will not be heard, we will discover treasures greater than the diamond mines of South Africa, the coal mines of North America, or the oil fields of the Middle East.

As we give human creativity its proper value, we will be freer to reach out to all with high-quality education knowing that, as they come into the circle of society there will be enough of everything to go around. What if our educational system started with the assumption of the creativity of each student? Would we see so many drop-outs? Would teachers be faced with as many children from homes scarred with depression and violence, much of which comes from financial stress—the stress of scarcity?

What would other institutions look like? How would we organize our society? These are the questions that can only be answered with our greatest resource—human creativity. Get in the discussion. “Let’s go change the world.”