STWR - Share The World's Resources

The fall of the Berlin Wall was hailed as the triumph of free market ideals. But even as the financial crisis exposes the weakness of this simplistic approach to economic management, the debate has yet to move beyond it, writes Michael Hirsh.

New approaches to economic thought are challenging classical theories based on self-interested individuals whose decisions can be reduced to mathematical equations – building a more realistic discipline with the potential to improve the human condition, writes Paul Ormerod.

In conventional economic thought, any increase in GDP is good for the economy – even if it is created by encouraging needless over-consumption. The result is a society in which people are literally consuming themselves sick, writes Jonathan Rowe.

In acknowledging the limitations of GDP as a reflection of well-being, President Sarkozy set up a commission to deliberate alternative measures of social progress. Whilst the end report revealed the issue to a wider public, it failed to contribute any new ideas, writes Jayati Ghosh.

Those advocating for a ‘steady state’ economic model are vastly outnumbered in mainstream policy circles. Yet there are signs that scepticism about the single-minded pursuit of economic growth may finally be catching on, reveals Susan Arterian Chang.

China is investing heavily in Africa through development projects aimed at exploiting the continent's natural resources. The potential outcome is no less disastrous than any misguided colonial project of the past, says Khadija Sharife.

With only piecemeal reforms to the financial system made at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the key tenets of market fundamentalist economic policies still prevail. Not until the global economic system is democratised will the world’s poor be given priority over the wealthy few, argues Mark Engler.