Wellwashing: why a superficial approach to wellbeing economics will fail.

While is is encouraging that the Scottish Government and senior figures in Scottish politics are discussing or adopting ideas around the Wellbeing Economy (See, for example, Common Weal’s policy paper “Giving Substance to the Wellbeing Economy: A Discussion Paper”), many of them misrepresent the idea of wellbeing economics by remaining coupled to “GDP Growth” as a metric of “success” in the economy. This often occurs without considering that the pursuit of economic growth is, in part, a cause of reduced wellbeing in the form of poverty and environmental damage. In essence it is like measuring success in a game of football by counting the number of player injuries. This paper critiques that approach and reiterates that an approach to economics that increases as maximises wellbeing must do so despite and regardless of the impact this approach would have on growth.