Why we need an economy of care for a liveable future
Keynote | University of Riga | 6 March 2026
In this keynote address delivered for the Bank of Latvia in Riga, Tim Jackson argues that a wealth-centred model of prosperity—organised around relentless economic growth—has systematically undermined the conditions for health. Drawing on work from Prosperity Without Growth to his more recent book The Care Economy, he shows how this model places care at the margins while incentivising industries that profit from illness. He explains why the logic of growth—accumulation at any cost—is fundamentally at odds with the logic of health, which depends on balance, restoration and the work of attention.
Moving between ancient mythology, modern physiology and contemporary policy, Jackson outlines an alternative framework: prosperity as health, economy as care. He traces the structural patterns that link food systems, chronic disease and pharmaceutical growth—revealing a “false economy” where industries profit from creating illness while public health bears the cost. The talk asks what becomes possible when care is understood not as a moral afterthought but as essential infrastructure, and when economic purpose is redefined around long-term wellbeing rather than short-term accumulation.
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