What Is Doughnut Economics and what is its problem with “growth”?
- 25 Mar
- 7 dakikada okunur
Güncelleme tarihi: 26 Mar
Doughnut Economics is a model developed by British academic Kate Raworth. Considered a “radical idea” just five years ago, the model is now on the radar of many urban administrations.
For decades, modern economics has been built on a simple promise: economies will continue to grow, and that growth will eventually reduce poverty.
But according to British economist Kate Raworth, the idea that economies can expand indefinitely on a finite planet is not just unrealistic — it is dangerous.
Raworth, a professor at Oxford University, has spent the past decade challenging the central assumption of modern economic thinking. Her model, known as Doughnut Economics, argues that societies should focus not on endless growth but on creating a balance between human needs and the ecological limits of the planet.
Once dismissed as a radical idea when it first emerged in 2012, the model is now attracting growing attention from policymakers — including city governments searching for alternatives to traditional economic frameworks.
Raworth herself often describes her position in the field bluntly.
“I’m a renegade economist,” she says.
Rethinking the foundations of economics
Raworth’s ideas gained global attention after the publication of her 2017 book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st‑Century Economist.
The central argument is simple: the economic models that dominated the 20th century were designed around a single goal — endless growth.
But that goal, Raworth argues, ignores the most basic needs of humanity as well as the physical limits of the planet.
During a public discussion hosted by Göteborgs Litteraturhus in 2021, Raworth reflected on her own discomfort with the discipline she once studied.
“I haven’t called myself an economist since graduating,” she said during the event, where she spoke with Ann Ighe of the University of Gothenburg.
“At some point I began to feel embarrassed about the economic framework I inherited.”
For more than three decades, Raworth says, economic debate has been shaped by the neoliberal ideas associated with Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan in the United States.
The result, she argues, is a narrow focus on markets, profits and growth — while deeper social and ecological questions remain largely ignored.
“We talk only about those who control the economy and about profit-loss analyses”, she says.
Raworth says, adding that people fear economics, find it overly mathematical and technical, and usually pin their hopes on the single economist most often brought to the audiences by the media.
She notes that institutions she has worked with for years, such as the United Nations and Oxfam, have raised issues ranging from income inequality to human rights—yet when a U.S. president is elected, the first thing people still ask about is the choice of economic adviser.
“Did you know that the President also has an environmental science adviser?” Raworth asks.
Beyond the language of “consumers”
At the heart of Doughnut Economics lies a broader critique of how economics views people.
Mainstream economic theory often reduces individuals to “consumers,” Raworth says. But that label misses something fundamental.
“My name is not ‘consumer’,” she says. “I am a citizen. I am part of a community.”
Humans, she argues, are deeply social beings who survive through cooperation. Their needs extend far beyond the act of buying and selling goods. “We have needs that we call ‘human rights’” she says.
That perspective is reflected in one of the central diagrams of Doughnut Economics, which places four elements at the core of society: the state, the market, the commons and people themselves.
Traditional economic thinking, Raworth argues, focuses almost entirely on the relationship between the state and the market.
But the other two pillars — communities and shared resources — are just as important.
The limits of markets
Raworth acknowledges that markets can be remarkably effective at coordinating economic activity.
“Adam Smith was right,” she says. “Markets have an extraordinary ability to coordinate demand and supply.”
Yet markets also have clear limitations.
They serve those who can spend money while ignoring those who cannot. And they tend to place value only on things that have a price.
“Markets value what has a price and exploit everything else,” Raworth argues.
Lessons from the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic offered a vivid demonstration of the capacity of governments to act decisively, Raworth says.
During the crisis, states around the world introduced sweeping measures almost overnight — housing homeless people in hotels, closing borders, grounding flights and supporting workers with emergency financial aid.
“What governments can do when they decide to act is extraordinary,” Raworth says.
For her, the lesson is clear: the same political will should be directed toward addressing the climate crisis and reducing economic inequality
The role of the commons
Another pillar of Raworth’s framework is what she calls the commons — shared spaces and systems that exist outside both markets and state control.
These can take many forms: neighborhood gardens, community events, or collaborative online platforms such as Wikipedia.
Commons are not chaotic spaces without rules, Raworth notes. Instead, they develop their own systems of governance, cooperation and accountability. There are penalties for adding false information to Wikipedia,” she notes.
They also challenge the traditional economic assumption that human beings are purely rational and driven only by self-interest.
Commons operate on a different logic — one based on cooperation, communication and shared responsibility and sanctions for rule-breakers.
A “safe space” for humanity
The visual centerpiece of Doughnut Economics is the doughnut-shaped diagram that gives the model its name.
The inner ring represents what Raworth calls the social foundation — the minimum conditions needed for human dignity. These include access to clean water, food, healthcare, energy, housing and education.
Many of these principles are reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015.
Falling below this inner ring—into the hole of the doughnut—means failing to provide basic human rights such as water, food, energy, education, and healthcare.
The outer ring represents the ecological ceiling, the environmental limits that humanity must not exceed. Crossing that boundary leads to crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss and ocean acidification.
The goal, Raworth says, is to keep humanity within the safe space between these two boundaries.
Just as the softest and sweetest part of a doughnut lies between its inner and outer rings, Raworth says the safest and fairest place for humanity lies between the social foundation and the ecological ceiling.
A planet under pressure
Scientific warnings about environmental limits are growing increasingly urgent.
According to the World Health Organization, around 90% of the world’s children breathe toxic air. The United Nations warns that water scarcity could affect up to five billion people by 2050.
Meanwhile, the conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that humanity has wiped out roughly 60% of animal populations since 1970.
These trends, Raworth argues, highlight the urgent need to rethink how economies function.
“People must be moved from the hole of the doughnut into its safe space”
According to Doughnut Economics, people must be lifted out of the hole and brought into the safe space. To achieve this, economic systems, social relations, markets, and state regulations must be redesigned.
Citing U.S. environmental scientist Donella Meadows, Raworth says even small policy changes—such as adjusting tax rates—can have enormous environmental impacts.
In her book first published in 2017, Raworth outlines seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist:
Change the goal: Growth should no longer be the objective; the focus should be on human needs and planetary boundaries at the heart of Doughnut Economics.
See the big picture: Move beyond a one-dimensional market model to recognize the deep interdependence between people and the planet.
Nurture human nature: Humans are not purely rational beings; they are deeply social and interdependent.
Get savvy with systems: The economy is far more dynamic than simple supply-and-demand curves.
Design to distribute: Instead of tolerating inequality in the hope that growth will fix it, economies should be distributive by design—from income and technology to land and ideas.
Create to regenerate: A clean environment is not a luxury good. Destructive industrial economies must be replaced with circular ones that restore natural systems.
Be agnostic about growth: The belief that endless growth will end poverty is flawed.
Rethinking growth itself
One of Raworth’s most controversial arguments concerns economic growth itself.
For decades, policymakers assumed that rising GDP would eventually reduce inequality and improve living standards.
But Raworth believes the fixation on growth has become a problem in its own right.
She often cites the words of economist Kenneth E. Boulding, who famously said that anyone who believes infinite growth is possible on a finite planet is “either a madman or an economist.”
Even wealthy nations, Raworth argues, cannot claim to be fully “developed” if their lifestyles are destabilizing the Earth’s life-support systems.
From theory to policy
What once sounded like a radical academic proposal is now influencing real-world policy debates.
One of the most prominent examples is Amsterdam, whose city government adopted the Doughnut model as a framework for sustainable development.
In April 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city released a detailed “Doughnut Portrait” assessing where Amsterdam falls short in meeting social needs and where it exceeds ecological limits.
The project brought together policymakers, businesses, civil society groups and start-ups in an effort to redesign the city’s economic model.
Amsterdam’s long-term ambition is to build a fully circular and sustainable economy by 2050.
For Raworth, the experiment represents something larger than a single policy initiative.
Doughnut Economics, she says, is ultimately about shifting the goal of economics itself.
“It’s not about endless growth,” she says.
“It’s about balance.”
(This article was first published in Independent Turkish on May 15, 2021)
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