What is Doughnut 🍩 Economics ?
Doughnut Economics originated in the work of Oxford economist Kate Raworth and has grown into a global movement to move beyond GDP as the primary measure of economic success, toward one that accounts for human wellbeing and planetary health together.
GDP tells us how much economic activity is happening. It does not tell us whether people’s basic needs are being met, whether prosperity is widely shared, or whether economic activity is undermining the ecological systems we rely on to survive. It counts growth, even when that growth is driven by rising inequality, environmental damage, or preventable harm.
For much of the 20th century, we used GDP to measure market activity, not human wellbeing or ecological stability. By treating all economic activity as equally positive—regardless of who benefits, who is harmed, or what is depleted—GDP has helped normalize an economic system that rewards extraction, concentration of wealth, and short-term gains, even when those gains come at long-term social and ecological cost.
We all want to live in places where people can lead secure, meaningful lives, where communities are healthy, nature is alive, and future generations are not burdened by the costs of short-term decisions. Yet inadequate economic framing has contributed to widening wealth inequality, accelerating climate and ecological breakdown, and growing instability across social, political, and technological systems.
Doughnut Economics is the tool we need for educating and equipping societies with the shared goal, shared language, and shared hope to unite and transform our economies to support life on Earth for future generations.
Why this matters now
We are living through a convergence of crises: rising wealth inequality, climate disruption, biodiversity loss, housing insecurity, democratic erosion, and rapidly advancing technologies that are outpacing our systems of governance. These crises are deeply interconnected by their root causal dynamics such as competition without coordination, and externalization of costs. The crises we face cannot be addressed in isolation, and they cannot be managed with insufficient economic indicators such as GDP.
GDP-driven decision-making encourages us to optimize for growth even when growth itself is destabilizing the systems that support life and social cohesion. It rewards scale without asking who benefits, and do we really need this?
Doughnut Economics is metacrisis-informed. It recognizes that we are not facing a single problem with a single solution, but a set of reinforcing dynamics that demand a proportionate, systems-level response.
The Doughnut does not promise easy answers. It offers something more durable: a shared frame for navigating complexity, tradeoffs, and responsibility in the 21st century
What is the "Doughnut"?
The Doughnut is the core concept at the heart of Doughnut Economics. It serves as a compass for human prosperity in the 21st century.
It is made up of two concentric rings:
- The Social Foundation (inner ring)
The minimum conditions required for people to live with dignity — such as access to housing, health, education, food, water, energy, and political voice. No one should be left falling short. - The Ecological Ceiling (outer ring)
The planetary boundaries that protect Earth’s life-supporting systems — including climate stability, clean air and water, healthy soils, and biodiversity. Humanity must not collectively overshoot these limits.
Between these two boundaries lies the safe and just space - the space in which people and planet can thrive together.
Why the Doughnut works
The power of the Doughnut lies in its simplicity without simplification.
- It brings social and ecological priorities into a single, coherent frame
- It makes tradeoffs visible rather than hiding them
- It allows diverse actors to orient around shared goals, even when they use different methods
- It creates space for evidence, values, and lived experience to inform decision-making together
The Doughnut does not replace detailed analysis or local knowledge. It holds them in relationship.
Around the world, cities, regions, schools, and organizations are using the Doughnut to reframe planning, budgeting, education, and public conversation. CalDEC is leading this work in California — but it is part of a much larger global effort coordinated by the Doughnut Economics Action Lab.