The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics

Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade, proposes a new economic framework centered on care. While Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations established the foundation for modern economics, its focus on market mechanisms as the primary means of producing and distributing necessities tells only part of the story. This has led to economic models that undervalue activities outside market parameters of buying and selling. Eisler argues that a nation's true wealth extends beyond financial measures to include human contributions and the natural environment. She reexamines economics from a broader perspective, advocating for visibility and value to be given to caring work—including household activities, community caregiving, and nature's life-supporting processes. Eisler identifies how current economic models are rooted in patriarchal and domination-based cultures. She demonstrates how economic systems based on caring could better serve human needs and provides concrete proposals for new measures, policies, rules, and practices to establish a caring economics that addresses fundamental human requirements.