A rational view of economics
The coronavirus pandemic has had tremendous impact on the economies of the whole world, whether or not each country has had a health crisis. During this time our focus has been on the consequences for peoples’ livelihood and wellbeing – rather than the loss of profits of affected firms. This tells us something fundamental about the purpose of the economy, which is to support the wellbeing of citizens, both now and in the future. Enduring wellbeing is the essential goal of sustainability. In this article I unpack the economy to demonstrate how it functions, and how it could be better aligned to this central goal.
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Corona virus in Australia
At the time of writing the Covid19 epidemic is rapidly spreading in Australia. What can systems models tell us about the potential of various policies to limit the scale and health impacts of the virus. In this article I apply a system dynamics model to the Australian data available to date. The results of the simulations underline the messages of the medical experts about the importance of behavioural measures in limiting the outbreak.