Bemused by the many promises on offer from the political parties? One way to evaluate 
them is against our “policy checker” based on our Viable Economy framework.
We want to live in a world that is viable, rather than one that risks tipping into decline or crisis. At its simplest you could just ask three questions about any policy:
- Is it economically viable? that is resilient and dynamic, providing enough for all with the likelihood of stability?
- Is it socially viable? supporting social well-being and wellness for all, helping people lead their lives with dignity and discriminating against nobody?
- Is it ecologically viable? not causing further damage to the earth’s fragile systems without which life is not possible but instead improving our stewardship of them?
But to help you break each of these questions down, we’ve put together a more detailed set of questions. Have a go with it and tell us what you think. After the election you can go on using it for plans and strategies, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a pdf file and HERE for a word processor one. And finally,
HERE is a worked example for Universal Basic Income and some of the alternatives to it.
Policy checker for the Viable Economy
For any policy proposal or plan, ask these questions. If you like you could make comparisons by rating alternative policies on a five point scale and calculate a total score.
|
1 |
Is it economically viable? |
|
|
1.1 |
Does it promote resilience in the face of bubbles, crashes, supply chain interruptions and the whim of governments? |
❐ |
|
1.2 |
Does it help more money to stay local and more democratic and local control over savings and investment? |
❐ |
|
1.3 |
Does it help the economy to deliver (and measure) what we need rather than growth for growth’s sake? |
❐ |
|
1.4 |
Does it help us move towards a more balanced economy without the over-development of some sectors (e.g. financial speculation, armaments)? |
❐ |
|
1.5 |
Does it help create an economy that does not have to keep expanding overall (noting that some sectors, like renewable energy, will grow, while some, such as fossil fuels, must shrink)? |
❐ |
|
1.6 |
Does it encourage investment to come from within our economy rather than from exploitation of other peoples or as profit-seeking from external investors? |
❐ |
|
2 |
Is it socially viable? |
|
|
2.1 |
Does it give people and government more control over the economy rather than the economy controlling us? |
❐ |
|
2.2 |
Does it build and rely on equality, solidarity and cooperation among people, here and elsewhere? |
❐ |
|
2.3 |
Will it more and more increase equality rather than inequality? |
❐ |
|
2.4 |
Will it mean less exploitation of the majority world while keeping open channels for communication and learning globally? |
❐ |
|
2.5 |
Is it rooted in the stewardship of everyone’s human and social capital rather then the waste of people’s energies and talents? |
❐ |
|
2.6 |
Does it enable people to live with dignity, free from prejudice, discrimination and stigmatisation |
❐ |
|
2.7 |
Does it increase the space for non-commercial transactions, supporting a collaborative or solidarity economy? |
❐ |
|
3 |
Is it ecologically viable |
|
|
3.1 |
Does it help to radically reduce both the exploitation of finite resources and the emission of pollutants, including greenhouse gases: a one-planet economy? |
❐ |
|
3.2 |
Is it based on production and consumption for need rather than expansion and profit for its own sake: a frugal abundance? |
❐ |
|
3.3 |
Does it help protect the environment from further destruction, meaning more security for us all? |
❐ |
|
3.4 |
Does it build resilience to climactic and other ecological shocks? |
❐ |
|
3.5 |
Does it contribute to the stewardship of the natural world that we depend on? |
❐ |
Based on our paper, The Viable Economy. Steady State Manchester, 2014.
Download at this link: https://steadystatemanchester.net/our-reports/
steadystatemanchester@gmail.com @steadystatemcr
licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Steady State Manchester 