I’ve been exploring what happens if we treat economic systems as emergent properties of infrastructure and governance, rather than primary engines of wellbeing. Has anyone in WEAll worked from that causal direction?
Hey Shawn, great question
I certainly view the economy as an emergent property. Emerging from how we relate to each other as governed by policies, institutions, language, culture, and our relationships with each other more broadly, across all scales of local, regional, national, and international levels.
I am working on this angle at the moment in my PhD studies.
Are you working on this angle?
I think we’re exploring similar ground, though my focus isn’t really on the economy itself. In my work (the DCAF), resource and relationship systems are built so directly around physical and social infrastructure that what we call “economic behavior” just shows up as a side effect, not something that needs to be designed or reformed.
In DCAF, local infrastructure and governance loops handle coordination directly. The “economic layer” emerges, but it isn’t required to keep things in balance… more like a secondary language the system can choose to use or not.
So my interest has been less in embedding an economy and more in seeing what takes its place when coordination becomes local, transparent, and looped. Does that align with how you’re approaching it in your PhD?
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If I’m understanding correctly, you’re framing the economy as something that doesn’t necessarily have to exist?
That is to say, there is a version of how the world runs that doesn’t need to include a formal economy as such?
I think I am potentially getting tripped up on your definition of “the economy”
In either case, what you’re describing reminds me of the commons quadrant in Kate Raworth’s Donought Economic model. That’s where the kind of activity you’re describing seems to best fit. I could be misunderstanding however
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Yes, you’ve got it. In my work, the economy isn’t required; though it can emerge once local infrastructure and governance loops are in place.
I like your connection to the commons quadrant in Raworth’s model — that’s a useful analogy for the type of emergent activity I’m describing. This approach goes a step further by operationalizing loops directly across material, social, and informational systems.
One historical example is the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose councils allowed resources, responsibilities, and governance to circulate relationally, without a formal economic layer. It’s not a replacement for Doughnut Economics, but it illustrates how relational and infrastructural design can generate emergent economic behavior as a by-product.
I’d be curious to hear how you see the connection between the commons and the infrastructural side of wellbeing… I think there’s a lot of overlap to explore?