**6.2 Economics, wellbeing and 2020**

It is worth remembering that "economics" is not about money; economics is about resources and allocating society's natural and human resources in optimal ways. Money is merely a currency that helps us to establish an exchange rate for trading different resources. Having 100 luxury vehicles does not matter if we cannot trade them for dinner, housing or some type of utility. We like money because it enables acquiring resources that are important to us; but it should be those resources that we ultimately want, not the pile of money.

When Covid-19 became a pandemic in early-2020, many societies around the world went into lockdown to limit the possible spread of the virus. And when the societies went into lockdown, much economic activity stopped. For a few months, most developed economies were in an odd stage of suspension; we were not producing much, individually or collectively. We had become completely dependent on integrated economies that relied on trading resources with others to meet our daily needs.


#### **Table 1.**

*This table shows how the six business case drivers can be applied to three of the most significant social movements. Guidance is provided as to how managers can implement these drivers and how other stakeholders can benefit from these drivers. Examples of companies using these drivers to address these social movements are provided.*

Economic growth, or an increase in the resources we have to allocate among society's citizens, depends on coordination between different people to trade resources. But economic growth also depends on production that utilizes natural and human resources to create more valuable and useful resources. All of this stopped when Covid-19 hit. And, just over a year since Covid-19 first changed our lives, societies are still trying to figure out how to adjust our actions to best grow our micro- and macroeconomies.


Figuring out how businesses proceed involves an assessment of the short-term and long-term benefits and consequences of any decision. This is the implicit decision everyone makes every time they make a personal or business decision. When we buy milk or eggs at the market, we are implicitly saying that having those items makes our lives better more than having the money we needed to buy them (and, similarly, more than the labor, effort or other resources we gave up acquiring the money needed for the milk and eggs). This discussion of trade and resource allocation is simple because we think we know the precise costs of such decisions and we know how much we benefit from those decisions. But most decisions in life – especially those involving communities of people – are rarely this simple and easily understandable. We do not want our children and teachers to get sick (or worse), but what is the loss to society over the next 20+ years if we sacrifice 10–20% of our children's education today? Nobody knows the answer to this question.

Yet this question is typical of the types of economic decisions that business, community and government leaders will be forced to make in the future. Is this an issue of corporate social responsibility? Is this an issue of increasing profits? Is this an issue of creating economic value? Of course, it is all of the above. Every decision any business ever makes is all about people, society, prosperity, well-being and money. Businesses choosing to strategically invest in people and society will continue to determine the prosperity and well-being that we see in the future, just as it always has.
