The inability of economics to internalize social and environmental externalities makes it so that it essentially serves capital through a debt-based economic growth; thus moving away from its primary goal: the correct distribution of scarce resources in order to satisfy human needs. As a consequence, unless a dramatic change in the path of development is implemented, it (the economy and our economic system) is leading us to an abyss. On the flip side, the re-localization of economies and lifestyles, linked to the rise of social businesses and to the potential of cooperatives as a social form for a more equitable distribution of wealth, inspires an opportunity to reorient human evolution towards wellbeing-generation and the creation of a system that is resilient to the threats that the world is facing. Hundreds of cases now exist in which neighborhood communities are assuming an increasing role in the decisions that affect their own future. The key to an encouraging future might lie in providing these socially and environmentally desirable approaches with economical viability.

The biggest problem in many communities—especially low-income ones— is caused by perception more than reality...Yet even in the most economically and socially challenged communities, there are a lot of good things going on—examples of the commons such as shared dreams, community assets and ways that people come together. These are the building blocks to make things better.

Indeed, the world now faces a double constraint to any further revolutionary gains to physical production: resource scarcity and the diminishing supply of the cheapest global labor, as wages in the Non-OECD have most likely seen their low. That we have reached this juncture probably explains why a new idea has arisen: The advent of robots.

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Exclusively social problems have a way of being addressed—if they are addressed at all—over many decades. Problems such as climate change and resource depletion will not wait for that kind of schedule.