Slouching toward an illusion and scurrying toward a delusion: A COVID19-shocked doughnut model economy

Abstract

Abstract. An easy way of observing and predicting changes in the structure and behavior of any free-market economy is to track changes in its circular flow model of economic activity. Using book titles as a literature review in combinations with a few classics, I describe how the circular flows of free -market economies evolved from little, gentle, and now nearly powerless government role, culminating in super-duper capitalism. First the evolution generated great wealth and income, and of late also increasing inequality. Processes like globalization that allowed for economic convergence also spurred enormous tensions. The resulting stresses and strains are responsible for unpopular populism and nationalism. The doughnut economic model provides a reasonable framework for explaining what we observe. It shows a decline in the social foundations of human rights, made worse by breaches in the “planetary boundaries” both of which squeeze the livable space ever more tightly like a boa-constrictor suffocating its prey. In this paper I do not go as far as measuring my observations, but the directions for policy and future research have clearly been established. Regarding the latter, one may want to examine how COVID19 has shocked into scurrying towards a delusion of a system that was already slouching towards an illusion. It turns out that the illusion is not a new prediction. In his critique of Marx and rationalization of Kondratieff’s waves (K-waves) Schumpeter predicted that capitalism as an innovation is not immune to the “gale of creative destruction.” Keywords. Circular flow model, Doughnut economic model, Social foundations of human rights, Inclusive and sustainable development, Planetary limits, Unpopular populism, Super-duper capitalism. JEL. O47, O33, E19, Z0.