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

In Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth argues that Gross Domestic Product is an inadequate and misleading measure of prosperity that has displaced more meaningful economic goals. She contends that the single-minded pursuit of GDP growth has become a “cuckoo” in the economic “nest,” justifying social and ecological damage in the name of progress. As an alternative, Raworth proposes the Doughnut, a visual framework that reorients the goal of economics toward meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. This shifts the focus from endless expansion to thriving in balance.

Raworth traces the fixation on GDP to the mid-20th century, when a simple metric of national output was elevated to an overriding policy objective. She notes that its creator, Simon Kuznets, issued explicit warnings against this practice, emphasizing that “the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income” (34). GDP excludes vital contributions from the unpaid household economy, ignores the distribution of income, and fails to account for the depletion of natural wealth. Despite these limitations, the pursuit of GDP growth became a political necessity, promising a panacea for everything from unemployment to class struggle.