Economy in post lock down

As the economist Kate Raworth puts it in this video discussion , the economy is the way we provision for our wants and needs and that can be done through:

•  Public provision (what local and central governments provide),
•  Market exchange (what we buy and sell),
•  Household relations, and
• The commons – all the activities that involve communities and resources created and /or held and maintained by those communities for those communities -

This means that we should think not of The Economy but rather of many different economies that we participate in.  Not all economies are purely money based – In some cases they may be gift based and /or reciprocity based.  The way these different economies collectively provide for our wants and needs varies over time and we are seeing that clearly now.  Household production and public provision are much more important than they were before lockdown.  

We are seeing more focus on household economies.  Examples are more people baking rather than buying bread, people are painting their houses rather than getting someone in to do it, and an increase in the numbers who are starting to grow veges in the back yard. 

Public provision:  Likewise, we are seeing government step in to provide a lot of public resources to provide for the needs of people who find themselves unable to work.

Over the last decades, the market economy has taken over things that used to be supplied by our commons. For example, we often pay for babysitters rather than reciprocating with our neighbours.  We buy recreation that clubs once provided, we throw out food or produce when it could be shared – we buy rather than borrow tools or books which then sit in our sheds or on our bookshelves unused or unread for months and sometimes years at a time.  It is no longer common to share transport with people. 

All this has increased our need for money.  However as the market and our just-in-time systems struggle to deliver what we need, it might be a good time to remember that a lot of our needs can be taken care of by getting to know and trust people around us, by working with others to set up local share resources and even to share work that needs to be done.   All this is essentially starting to think about how to build (or perhaps rebuild) local commons. 

Communities around the world have developed a wide range of commons - much wider than the ones we saw in past generations.  For example, we might be able to develop financial commons (such as the Grameen Bank or local savings pools),  We could use a Timebanks to ask for and offer time and skills.  We could grow more locally produced food in community settings, increase access local food growers through local markets,  share knowledge and skills, create recreational opportunities through clubs,  share tools and make our local book and food sharing spaces hum.   

Creating Commons

In my last article, I talked about commons as physical resources - Water, land, air etc.  
In this post, I will talk about how we as a community create commons and how we might create more.   

As we come through this period of lockdown, it is becoming clear that many of the things that we might think of as individually owned are actually often part of a commons.  Our health is an example - Maintaining the health of people who already face health issues turns out to require collective action.  Likewise, our collective work (which many of us haven't been able to do during lockdown) creates and maintains our economy.   In many different ways we rise and fall with those around us in our community.

Our capacity to work together and pool resources is a superpower that we can learn to use more!   Our collective adherence to lockdown has halted the spread of the Corona Virus that has overwhelmed health services and led to people being buried in mass graves in other countries.  Our capacity as a nation to do this has made a huge difference to the quality of life and death in this country at this time.
   
Now we need to use that same superpower to recreate an economy that supports all of us.  And we can help with that, like other communities through history, by creating and maintaining our commons.
 
Some examples of the sorts of commons that communities have created include:

Food commons:  
Community gardens and similar are an obvious example of this.  Incredible Edible Todmorden is another example as you can see in the video below.

Alongside this, it is good to have ways for people to share or swap any surplus, and/ or to learn new skills associated with preserving food. 

Financial commons:  
For most of us, our money and the way we manage it is something none of us talk about and that we do in a very individual way.  That means we never learn anything new and we are confined to what we can do as individuals.  This doesn't have to be way it is!  

A growing number of people around New Zealand are working together with people they know (families, groups of friends, groups of neighbours) to help each other save, and to pool resources so that they can do things like:

• Helping each other cover unexpected costs like having to go to the doctor or fixing a car or a house.  
• Helping members to pay off highly expensive credit card debt (and save on the huge interest that credit card companies charge when you don't pay in full each month) 
• Investing in resources that might save money that could be then reinvested in saving for similar resources - eg funding electric bikes (which save heaps on car running) or electric cars (which save on petrol costs).
• Helping with funding to set up a new business.

Check out Savings pools on this website to find out more.


Sharing
These kinds of pooled resources don't have to be money - Some communities are setting up sharing schemes that might work a little bit like cheap hire schemes but where members can borrow or rent anything from cars from a shared pool, tools, kitchen equipment, craft equipment or whatever members are interested in.  This can save people a huge amount of money and yet provide good access to the sorts of resources people might only need from time to time.


Cooperatives 
These are another way people have joined together to help their members by sharing costs and profits while also providing goods and services.  You can find out more about these on the Living Economies Website

These are just a few examples of the kinds of commons that may be useful particularly in economically tough times.  

If you have found any of this interesting check out this NZ doco which provides some examples of the things people are doing and have done around this stuff.