Lene Rachel Andersen.

People empowered to meet own needs & participate in decision-making process

When systems become too powerful & replace individual agency & responsibility

Culture of "institutionalised scarcity" = dependence on institutions & experts.

"Polymodern Economics" published in the Metamodern Theory and Praxis Journal. Key points:

Polymodernity vs. Metamodernism:

Polymodernity refers to integrating different historical economic and cultural codes (indigenous, traditional, modern, postmodern) to understand the full human experience.

Metamodernism focuses more on the modern and postmodern, while polymodernity includes the pre-modern and traditional eras as well.

Critique of the Current Economic Model:

The current economic model has solved certain problems like reducing poverty and starvation, but has also created new issues like inequality, homelessness, and environmental destruction.

The model is overly focused on metrics like GDP, employment, and unemployment, without considering human and environmental thriving.

Layers of the Economy:

Nature as the foundational layer that sustains all economic activity.

Gift economy based on reciprocal exchange and community bonds.

Artisan/market economy with localized production and exchange.

Industrial/capitalist economy focused on efficiency and mass production.

Digital/cryptocurrency economy that is global and less tied to physical production.

Challenges and Proposals:

Need to find ways for these different economic layers to coexist and thrive, rather than the capitalist model dominating.

Propose measuring economic success based on local complexity, connections, and human/environmental wellbeing rather than just GDP.

Explore ways to regulate and integrate the digital economy with the other economic layers.

Emphasize the importance of local, artisanal, and gift economies alongside the industrial/capitalist model.

The overall goal is to develop a more holistic, sustainable, and equitable economic framework that draws on the strengths of different economic modes throughout history.

Key Concepts

🧭 1. Reframing Economic Layers as Coexisting Strata

Anderson proposes five coexisting layers:

1. Nature (foundation)

2. Gift economy (relational exchange, care)

3. Artisan/Market economy (local production/trade)

4. Industrial/Capitalist economy (mass production and scaling)
5. Digital economy (automation, virtual trade, global networks)

🛠 Practical Mechanism:

Municipalities could classify local businesses and activities under these layers for differentiated regulation and support (e.g., lower taxes for artisan producers or incentives for local gift-based initiatives).
Policy levers can be tailored to favor balance over domination of any single layer.

🌱 2. Embedding Pre-modern and Indigenous Logics

By reintegrating pre-modern cultural codes (e.g., ritual, relationality, oral traditions, ecological reciprocity), we reawaken dormant but resilient ways of being.

🛠 Practical Mechanism:

Urban design infused with “campfire logic” (spaces for shared meals, stories, cross-generational learning).
Encouraging non-monetary value systems: time banks, mutual aid networks, or culturally-rooted restorative justice.

🧩 3. Measuring Local Complexity Instead of Just Growth

Polymodern economics suggests replacing GDP with metrics of thriving relational networks, such as:

How many neighbors you know by name?
Frequency of non-transactional exchanges
Number of meaningful local collaborations

🛠 Practical Mechanism:

Develop or use community mapping tools and participatory surveys to track local interconnectedness. But also add warm data. This data that doesn't get neasured which is the wealth of our interactions and the things we can rapidly create.
Municipalities or cooperatives could integrate this info (data) into dashboards guiding funding, zoning or infrastructure decisions.

🛖 4. Re-Localization and Bioregional Thinking

Encouraging regional self-reliance via:

§ Craft and agrarian economies

§ Bioregional currencies or time-banks

§ Ecological restoration tied to cultural identity

🛠 Practical Mechanism:

§ Create economic districts based on ecological rather than administrative boundaries.

§ Support local currencies or digital barter systems that circulate within defined bioregions.

🔄 5. Ethical Governance of Digital Economies

Anderson sees digital capitalism as increasingly detached from embodied realities. She suggests regulating digital economies so they support, not replace, human and ecological flourishing.

🛠 Practical Mechanism:

§ Introduce a “nature-binding clause” in digital platform design (e.g., requiring digital companies to fund real-world ecological or social regeneration).

§ Promote decentralized web architectures governed by local communities.

Lene Rachel Andersen.

People empowered to meet own needs & participate in decision-making process

When systems become too powerful & replace individual agency & responsibility

Culture of "institutionalised scarcity" = dependence on institutions & experts.

"Polymodern Economics" published in the Metamodern Theory and Praxis Journal. Key points:

Polymodernity vs. Metamodernism:

Polymodernity refers to integrating different historical economic and cultural codes (indigenous, traditional, modern, postmodern) to understand the full human experience.

Metamodernism focuses more on the modern and postmodern, while polymodernity includes the pre-modern and traditional eras as well.

Critique of the Current Economic Model:

The current economic model has solved certain problems like reducing poverty and starvation, but has also created new issues like inequality, homelessness, and environmental destruction.

The model is overly focused on metrics like GDP, employment, and unemployment, without considering human and environmental thriving.

Layers of the Economy:

Nature as the foundational layer that sustains all economic activity.

Gift economy based on reciprocal exchange and community bonds.

Artisan/market economy with localized production and exchange.

Industrial/capitalist economy focused on efficiency and mass production.

Digital/cryptocurrency economy that is global and less tied to physical production.

Challenges and Proposals:

Need to find ways for these different economic layers to coexist and thrive, rather than the capitalist model dominating.

Propose measuring economic success based on local complexity, connections, and human/environmental wellbeing rather than just GDP.

Explore ways to regulate and integrate the digital economy with the other economic layers.

Emphasize the importance of local, artisanal, and gift economies alongside the industrial/capitalist model.

The overall goal is to develop a more holistic, sustainable, and equitable economic framework that draws on the strengths of different economic modes throughout history.

FURTHER READINGS