2025/01/20 by Anders Hayden · 1 voice
Psychology · #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/15487733.2024.2448871
openalex publication_date 2025/01/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
The 2024 Wellbeing Economy Forum highlighted diverse perspectives on the creation of a wellbeing economy (WE), which, in general terms, aims for sustainable wellbeing for people and planet and, for some supporters, represents a post-growth alternative to neoliberal capitalism. The event was hosted by the government of Iceland, one of five Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) with shared ambitions of creating a WE, and also attracted representatives from major international organizations, WE activists, academics, and others. This Brief Report is based on participant-observation at the Forum, supplemented by a review of publicly available videos of selected presentations, and also informed by existing literature on the WE and WEGo. It provides an account of the state and range of WE thinking illustrated at the Forum, including the degree to which post-growth thinking was present, whether signs of a rightward drift among some WEGo nations under new conservative leadership were visible, and consideration of the evident strengths and limitations of the WE concept. The Forum took place days after a surge in support for far-right parties in European Parliament elections, which cast a shadow over the event and raised a pressing question: can a WE be a unifying concept to resist the rise of the far-right while addressing social and ecological crises? Although it is impossible to answer this question definitively, the Brief Report concludes by arguing that a WE vision that offers minimal change is not up to that task, but a more ambitious and transformative WE project might be.