Economy

The economy is a domain of society that must create the conditions necessary to meet everyone’s basic needs and ensure the well-being of humanity, including care for the environment.

Politics governs and coordinates the various domains of society—such as the economy, medical care, education, culture, and more. It integrates these domains into a coherent and functional whole, whether at the level of a local community, a city, a nation-state, or the global level. The economy[1] is one of these domains, yet it plays a unique role: to ensure the provision of goods and resources essential not only for individual survival but also for the flourishing of the entire society.

Politics and the economy should not be viewed as separate spheres, as their objectives often align. Their shared goal is the overall well-being of society. Symbolically, politics and economy can be seen as the 'father and mother' of society—whether a family, a community, a nation, or the world—jointly responsible for the welfare of all their members.

Today’s economic system is highly efficient at producing goods, yet it fails dramatically in distributing them equitably. Widespread hunger and poverty persist—not because of a lack of resources, but due to a profoundly unjust global distribution of wealth. Moreover, the system’s intense competitiveness harms the environment and the countless living beings with which we share the Earth.

Some economists and politicians frequently invoke the phrase “survival of the fittest”, allegedly a natural law, to justify this competitive economic order. Yet even Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, wrote in The Descent of Man (1871):

“Those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring.”[2]

It is no coincidence that the ancient Greek word for economy—oikonomia[3]—is rooted in the concepts of home and family. Oikos refers to the household and its property, while nomos (law) implies management or stewardship. In its original sense, the economy meant the careful management of resources—of both the home and its environment—to sustain the life and well-being of the family.

When extended to a broader scale, oikos may be understood as the local community, the country, or even the entire planet—and the economy becomes the stewardship of collective well-being. Thus, the economy is not merely about wealth or trade; it is about caring for the human family and its shared home, the Earth.[4]


From the e-book Meditations on the Sharing Economy


[1] In this discussion, we use the term 'economy' to refer to the actual system of production, distribution, and consumption, distinguishing it from 'economics', which is the academic discipline. The sharing economy is not a new branch of economic science; rather, it aims to transform the economy and, by extension, society.

[2] Darwin, C. (2000). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2300

[3] Wikipedia. Oikonomos. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oikonomos

[4] Economy and ecology are not closely related by coincidence. While economy is derived from the Greek words oikos (household) and nomos (management or law)—meaning the management of resources and the environment for the well-being of the household—ecology comes from oikos and logos (study or discourse), referring to the study of relationships between living beings and their environment, and, in more recent times, also the care for the environment.