The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics

Social scientist Riane Eisler provides a different approach to economics in THE REAL WEALTH OF NATIONS: CREATING A CARING ECONOMICS. Where Alan Smith's classic provided the first and lasting explanation of how modern economics works as a market-driven force, REAL WEALTH OF NATIONS goes a step further for college-level and business holdings, building upon Smith's concepts to show the real wealth of nations lies in the contributions of people and environment. The idea is that caring for people and the environment builds the real wealth - and he proposes a new 'caring economics' which moves from the microcosm of the household to communities and nature to promote new values beyond stereotypes. An excellent survey any college-level collection strong in social science will want. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I was first introduced to Riane Eisler's work years ago through her profoundly enlightening book, THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE. I have carried her message about the value of partnership and cooperation over dominance ever since. Eisler's latest book, THE REAL WEALTH OF NATIONS, reflects on the dominant form of economics around which our world currently functions. It is a paradigm that has been in place for at least 10,000 years. The system, as currently constituted, serves the interests of the few at the great expense of the many. It has also become increasingly destructive to the environment and to the lives of the vast majority of world's people. Eisler offers an alternative vision for market economics that is inclusive rather exclusive, nurturing rather than destructive, open and transparent rather than accessible only to the privileged few sitting at the apex of human society. Solving the world's burgeoning problems requires more than treating symptoms. It requires a fundamental reshaping of the prevailing, dominance oriented economics that encourages human suffering, and environmental destruction on a massive scale. Riane Eisler's THE REAL WEALTH OF NATIONS is powerful and life affirming. The economics based on partnership and the common good that she envisions offers the best chance for creating prosperity for all the world's people while at the same time restoring and protecting our Earth's biological heritage. Written in a style that is highly accessible and also thoroughly engaging, this latest book from Riane Eisler is a gift of awareness and understanding that should be at the top of every person's reading list.

The Real Wealth of Nations is the most fundamental critique of macro and micro economics that I have ever seen. Everyone should take these points seriously. Her bedrock critique is that economics is harmfully selective in what it chooses to measure and consider. That's like stopping mathematics with the numbers 1 though 5 and ignoring the other numbers. Macro economics does this by paying scant, if any, attention to production and services that don't generate an exchange of money (such as raising your own children) but have an economic impact (by producing a more or less productive member of society who generates fewer or more benefits for others) or aren't in the legal economy (drug dealing) which certainly affect the "legal" economy. Micro economics does this by encouraging decision makers to look too narrowly at close-in effects (such as company near-term profits) rather than the ripple and secondary effects (such as the benefit or harm that customers, partners, employees, the environment, and society experience which also have measurable costs and benefits). Most of those who apply micro economics would have no clue for how to consider those other dimensions. What you don't measure will be treated like it doesn't matter. That's the rub. We are all bound up in a tradition stall that says that much of what creates a good society doesn't require such focus. But if we did focus, we would do better. I agree. So how do we get past this? Reading The Real Wealth of Nations is a good start. You can't see all of your social conditioning until someone shows you what's missing from the paradigm. Ms. Eisler cites a lot of studies by others to get you thinking. That's good. She describes the book as a call for discussion, and I'm sure the book will succeed in that dimension. I was pleased to see that she rarely misstepped in choosing, citing, and describing the meaning of studies that I know about. Ultimately, she sees a change in psychology as being the key to the paradigm shift: Start talking about and thinking about caring for and about others, and you'll stop being too narrowly focused. That point is a much broader one than simply critiquing economics. In fact, I feel like what's needed is a science of improvement that's much broader than mere economics. Enough people enjoy making improvements for their own joy of succeeding that they will drive forward a lot of the changes that Ms. Eisler is concerned about creating. Others enjoy seeing benefits being created for others, and they will make progress for that reason. Still others will simply mimic what others have done to improve. If everyone learned how to make exponential improvements, most of the problems Ms. Eisler describes would soon be gone. In fact, if each person who knows how to make exponential improvements simply showed one other person how to do this each month, the whole world would know what to do within three years. I think that's a more practical solu

Cultural Visionary, historian and wise elder Riane Eisler has gathered an astonishing mass of informative material covering almost all aspects of life drawing from leading edge thinkers, once again inviting us to awaken from our slumber. From governmental, economical and the political, to technology and ecological sustainability, to our cultural, social and religious past, from ancient pre-history up to today - - - all examined through the clear, very wide lens of the dominator/ partnership models. Riane's information is fleshed out with the backdrop of how our dominator world culture came into being, always from the passionate perspective of what supports our highest and best nature, and life on earth. Reading from her strong, grounded and irrefutable truth, it is clear that our birthright of a peace-filled, loving and egalitarian life on earth has been stolen from us, and that there is a better way. Riane points out again and again that this cruel, violent and wasteful world, under the control of a male hierarchical, domination and greed driven world culture must change, if we are to survive. We can and must return again to a world which honors and serves Life, a world which embraces the feminine and the maternal; a world where compassion and caring and caring FOR are considered the most important qualities of all. She writes, "There's a common denominator underlying our mounting personal social and environmental problems: lack of caring. We need an economic system that takes us beyond communism, capitalism, and other old isms. We need economic models that support caring for ourselves, others, and our Mother Earth" and "It's not realistic to expect changes in uncaring economic policies and practices unless caring and caregiving are given greater value." When one consider that it is the very actions of caring and being cared for that make our life possible, it is beyond comprehension that they are systematically devalued--in this warped dominator view of what counts and what doesn't. I believe the voice of reality and maturity will prevail, due in great part to the extraordinary life work of Riane Eisler. She has opened the door, showing us how to create a world where everyone can blossom into the full measure of their humanity. May we walk through it into a loving and caring world, where we live in love, in health and in gratitude for our gift of life on this beautiful planet.

To what we often call the "dismal science", Eisler brings a perspective long as history, wide as the planet, and hopeful as any mother. Rather than mind-numbing fiscal determinism, she offers a practical vision of economic values and goals that is downright inspiring. First she expands the field of discussion to include all the caring work and natural productivity our lives depend on. By many examples she shows how investment in these activities is both socially and economically profitable -- as she puts it, that caring pays. Next she applies this wider perspective to the history of economic beliefs, illuminating the gifts and failings of past systems. Finally she warms up to her most stimulating theme, of exploring the portals of opportunity to a human-potential based economy of the future. As she introduces this stream of visions, "Neither capitalist nor socialist theory recognized what is becoming evident as we move into the postindustrial information economy: that a healthy economy and society require an economic system that supports optimal human development. By contrast, partnerism recognizes that the development of high-quality human capital -- that is, of human capacities -- is (in addition to a healthy ecosystem) the most valuable component of a successful economy. As Amartya Sen notes, the ultimate goal of economic policy should not be the level of monetary income per person, but to develop the human capacities of each person." (p. 148) As in her previous books on history and social issues, Eisler uses a multi-disciplinary, non-linear approach that exposes how things are connected. She looks through the clash of conflicting interests to find a course of mutual benefit for all concerned. "With this book," she explains, "I have set out to apply this research to economics, completing the cycle of reexamining sex, power, and money, which are said to make the world go round". Throughout the book, Eisler applies her powerful insight about human values: that we choose between different kinds of values, namely partnership or dominator-style values. This moral insight acts like a razor to dissect our social conundrums. And in this passionate examination of our economic life -- what counts, who matters, what we will value in the future -- that razor has never been sharper.