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Contribution short abstract

The study analyzes policymakers’ perceptions of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the Wellbeing Economy. It reveals a complex transition, yet one driven by public demand, innovative leadership, social investments, and welfare systems independent of economic growth.

Contribution long abstract

Is it theoretically “possible” to design alternative economic systems that meet everyone's needs within planetary limits? The choice to implement new economic systems with post-growth characteristics is primarily political. Among these, the one approach that has managed to gain traction among policy makers is the Wellbeing economy (WE). To date, the perception of the WE by different stakeholders, including policy makers, has not been systematically explored in the existing literature. The aim of this study is to fill this gap and understand the perception of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of WE among policy makers through a qualitative content analysis.

What emerges from the research, visually represented in the SWOT diagram, is that on the one hand, there is the perceived complexity for the transition to WE, due to various necessary transformations including: the role of the citizen, who from being a mere consumer must become an active player in the decision-making process; the adoption of holistic frameworks by policy makers that enable integrated and cross-sectoral policy-making; and, the shift of focus to long-term objectives independent of GDP trends.

By contrast, some potential factors that have emerged that could accelerate the implementation of WE are: the present demand by citizens for WE policies and the potential understanding of the associated economic benefits; the presence of new leaders able to promote alternative visions through social investments for economic security independent of GDP trends; and the revalorisation of aspects such as collaboration, both locally between different stakeholders and globally across countries.