Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

A major theme in Doughnut Economics is Rethinking Progress Beyond GDP, an argument based in Raworth’s belief that economic models focused solely on GDP inherently fail to meet humanity’s and the environment’s needs. GDP describes the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders over a specific period of time. It specifically refers to goods and services provided or made within a specific country, and it only considers finished products (a piece of furniture, but not the wood used to make it). It includes household spending, business spending on capital goods (or assets used to produce other, finished goods), government purchases, and the value of exports minus the imports accepted within that time period. For many governments, the GDP is a crucial signal of the health of the economy; however, Raworth argues that it is only one factor in a broader depiction of a nation’s or economy’s well-being.

“Distributive by design” is an economic approach that embeds the widespread sharing of income and opportunity into the core structure of the economy (25). This principle challenges the 20th-century belief that rising inequality is a necessary phase of development that will eventually be corrected by economic growth.