"Betterness: Economics for Humans" is a powerful call to arms for a post-capitalist economy. Umair Haque argues that just as positive psychology revolutionized our understanding of mental health by recasting the field as more than just treating mental illness, we need to rethink our economic paradigm. Why? Because business as we know it has reached a state of diminishing returns--though we work harder and harder, we never seem to get anywhere. This has led to a diminishing of the common wealth: wage stagnation, widening economic inequality, the depletion of the natural world, and more. To get out of this trap, we need to rethink the future of human exchange. In short, we need to get out of business and into betterness.
Umair, I wonder if I'm the only one who would benefit from a more complete bio on you, or hearing more about your story in your posts. I started following you online (and then booked sessions with you) because you were clearly talking sense. And then had trouble pulling info together to explain why I was telling my spouse (and others!) we needed to pay attention. Probably because you went indie, it's not a trivial thing to pull together helpful details on your background. I'm SO not an economist, so when I'm wanting to share your work, I'm leaning a bit on your credentials because it's not easy to vouch just based on how much sense you're making to me, ya know?
Anyway, before posting this comment, I did decide to pick up a couple of your books. Not only will it probably fill in some of those details for me, I'll be on my way to thinking about what a post-capitalist economy could look like, if we want it to NOT be a dystopia.
Thank you Umair. I’m grateful for these short videos. I really want to know more about a well being economy. ( I didnt have a name for it before, but really felt we were missing something big ever since I read the Divine Right of Capital in 1982 in college.) You brilliant minds were maybe ahead of your time. And getting it out to a wider population now, bypassing the pundits and legacy media, maybe we can begin to grow it out from the bottom out instead of the top down. Thanks for all you do.
There’s a word for a well being economy. It’s: France 👨🎨
Just kidding. Sort of. My sister married a French dude she met when they were both working in New York, then they moved to France seven years ago. It’s not perfect but man, does the quality of life seem healthier than in the U.S. Her experiences with pregnancy, parental leave, daycare for her kids, medical care, PTO, food, housing costs, etc., have been enviable and pretty much impossible in this rat race…
I remember reading your articles on HBR. I was quite taken by your ideas and actually purchased Betterness: Economics for Humans (https://store.hbr.org/product/betterness-economics-for-humans/11135?sku=11135-PDF-ENG)
"Betterness: Economics for Humans" is a powerful call to arms for a post-capitalist economy. Umair Haque argues that just as positive psychology revolutionized our understanding of mental health by recasting the field as more than just treating mental illness, we need to rethink our economic paradigm. Why? Because business as we know it has reached a state of diminishing returns--though we work harder and harder, we never seem to get anywhere. This has led to a diminishing of the common wealth: wage stagnation, widening economic inequality, the depletion of the natural world, and more. To get out of this trap, we need to rethink the future of human exchange. In short, we need to get out of business and into betterness.
Would you be willing to post transcripts of these videos? Some of us engage more deeply with ideas in written form. Grateful for the richness.
Umair, I wonder if I'm the only one who would benefit from a more complete bio on you, or hearing more about your story in your posts. I started following you online (and then booked sessions with you) because you were clearly talking sense. And then had trouble pulling info together to explain why I was telling my spouse (and others!) we needed to pay attention. Probably because you went indie, it's not a trivial thing to pull together helpful details on your background. I'm SO not an economist, so when I'm wanting to share your work, I'm leaning a bit on your credentials because it's not easy to vouch just based on how much sense you're making to me, ya know?
Anyway, before posting this comment, I did decide to pick up a couple of your books. Not only will it probably fill in some of those details for me, I'll be on my way to thinking about what a post-capitalist economy could look like, if we want it to NOT be a dystopia.
Thank you Umair. I’m grateful for these short videos. I really want to know more about a well being economy. ( I didnt have a name for it before, but really felt we were missing something big ever since I read the Divine Right of Capital in 1982 in college.) You brilliant minds were maybe ahead of your time. And getting it out to a wider population now, bypassing the pundits and legacy media, maybe we can begin to grow it out from the bottom out instead of the top down. Thanks for all you do.
There’s a word for a well being economy. It’s: France 👨🎨
Just kidding. Sort of. My sister married a French dude she met when they were both working in New York, then they moved to France seven years ago. It’s not perfect but man, does the quality of life seem healthier than in the U.S. Her experiences with pregnancy, parental leave, daycare for her kids, medical care, PTO, food, housing costs, etc., have been enviable and pretty much impossible in this rat race…
This is the reaction women get from men all the time. It's called patriarchy.