Prosperity. Growth. Success.
When you hear the words, what comes to mind? More income? More status? More stuff?
It’s what we’ve been taught to believe, isn’t it? That progress means expansion, and that growth is the measure of success.
It may have made sense in the early days of industrial progress, when we thought the planet could absorb our ambition without consequence.
Now our world is sending the bill, and the cost is everything that sustains us. It’s a truth economist Tim Jackson believes we can no longer afford to ignore.
“As the economy gets bigger and bigger, we have a bigger impact on the planet,” he says in a Mindvalley Book Club interview. “And that’s undermining the prosperity of future generations.”
So if the conventional idea that prosperity equals money is no longer sustainable, what, pray tell, should it stand for, then?
Perhaps it’s time to build an economy that learns to care.
Watch Tim’s full interview on the Mindvalley Book Club:
Why the pursuit of growth is making us sick
Did you know that the world’s GDP has multiplied twentyfold since the 1950s? And with it came a growing strain on every natural and human system that keeps life running.
The logic of modern economies is simple: to keep profits climbing, companies must keep people consuming. In food, for example, that means engineering ultra-processed products designed to hook the brain with sugar and flavor. In technology, it means apps built to monetize attention by keeping users scrolling.
What all this has in common is an economy that feeds on the exhaustion and depletion of soil, air, and people. And the cost is visible in our bodies. Rates of chronic disease and metabolic dysfunction, for one, have doubled in the last three decades.
“There is a health crisis,” Tim shares with Kristina Mӓnd-Lakhiani, the co-founder of Mindvalley and the host of the Mindvalley Book Club. “Profits from that food system are contributing to growth but doing so at the expense of people’s health.”
The same model that floods supermarket shelves with empty calories also floods the atmosphere with carbon. Yet power, profit, and public noise continue to drown out science and reason.
“These kinds of dynamics,” Tim says, “are now overwhelming what was actually an almost essential consensus around quite an important issue like climate change, like the loss of other species on the planet.”
What comes next is a chain reaction: the loss of biodiversity weakens the soil → poor soil reduces food yields → collapsing food systems push us closer to a planet too damaged to sustain prosperity.
This is the real cost of growth without balance. But Tim believes the way forward is not more acceleration but a new definition of prosperity.
How Tim Jackson’s care economy redefines prosperity
If growth is the story we’ve been told, care is the story Tim wants us to remember.
But why care, exactly? As he explains, it’s the “restorative force that brings us back into balance, brings us back towards health.”
That’s the whole premise of his latest book, The Care Economy. This approach focuses on the parts of life and work that maintain well-being rather than produce goods.
It includes healthcare, education, social work, parenting, elder care, and community support. And it’s the quiet infrastructure that keeps societies alive.
You cannot expect population health to improve while you rely on the good resources of a few individuals who may just about be able to turn around their diagnosis.
— Tim Jackson, economist and author of The Care Economy
What’s more, by redefining prosperity around care, Tim challenges the idea that wealth equals progress. A strong economy, in his view, is one that invests in the health of its people and its planet.
It’s an idea that people like Robin Sharma and Amartya Sen also talk about: real wealth comes from health, purpose, and connection. Tim expands it through an economic lens, showing how societies can create and protect those same conditions together.
Proof that care pays off
The reality is, countries that treat care as economic infrastructure see long-term returns that outpace traditional growth investments. “Prosperity is more about health than it is about wealth,” Tim says.
Here are a few examples:
- Early childhood education gives the highest return on investment. Every dollar spent brings back 7–13% each year through better health, education, and jobs.
- Paid parental leave, as studies show, lowers infant deaths and improves family health when parents get at least six months off with pay.
- When hospitals have enough nurses to care for patients properly, fewer people die, and patients get to go home sooner.
- Clean air pays for itself. For instance, the U.S. Clean Air Act returns more than $30 in health benefits for every dollar spent, mostly from fewer deaths and illnesses.
- Even food policy proves the point. When Mexico introduced a national tax on sugary drinks, soda sales fell by 7.6% in the first year, with the biggest drop among low-income families.
Each of these examples shows how care can help reduce long-term costs, strengthen resilience, and build the foundation for real prosperity. In economic terms, care outperforms consumption.
What choosing care looks like, individually and systemically, according to Tim Jackson
So the story we’ve known is that as long as the economy keeps expanding, prosperity will follow.
But where is it taking us exactly? That’s the question Tim raises.
“For quite a long time,” he tells Kristina, “my academic work has been asking one very simple question, which is what can prosperity possibly mean on a finite planet?”
It sounds abstract, but the consequences are everywhere. Chronic disease, mental distress, and environmental pressures are all worsening in tandem.
Tim, too, experienced this firsthand while writing The Care Economy. Diagnosed with pre-diabetes, he realized how even an informed, privileged person struggles to stay healthy in an environment that profits from illness.
“It is almost impossible for me to change,” he says. It required time, effort, new habits, and guidance. His diagnosis became a metaphor for a society addicted to its own growth.
How care begins with personal change
The unfortunate truth is, even the most mindful person can’t thrive in a culture that profits from depletion. The food you eat, the apps you use, and the hours you work all operate within an economy that depends on overconsumption.
Choosing care starts with noticing where that economy lives inside your own habits. The skipped meals, the endless scrolling, and the pressure to stay busy all keep you producing under the illusion of progress. The first act of care is to slow that cycle.
Research from the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2023 report shows that high stress remains widespread, driven by long work hours, financial pressure, and digital overstimulation that contribute to anxiety, depression, and physical illness. Yet, recovery time, such as sleep, rest, and time with others, is often treated as optional.
For you, this might be reclaiming those as non-negotiable parts of life. This can be as simple as cooking instead of ordering out, taking a walk instead of checking your phone again, or saying no when your schedule is already full.
Each small action restores the attention and energy that constant productivity drains away. And it creates the self-awareness needed for collective change.
How care scales to society
“You cannot expect population health to improve,” says Tim, “while you rely on the good resources of a few individuals who may just about be able to turn around their diagnosis.”
That’s why care must also become collective. The thing is, when the cheapest food is the least nutritious, or when burnout is built into workplace culture, personal willpower is not always enough. Real care requires public structures that make health possible.
This begins with how societies measure success. Rather than reward speed and extraction, Tim suggests that economies reward stability and restoration. And some countries have already tried to do this:
- Finland’s work–life balance policies rank among the world’s best, producing higher productivity and stronger mental health outcomes.
- Uruguay’s National Care System treats childcare, eldercare, and disability care as public responsibilities, expanding access and creating paid jobs for caregivers.
- Costa Rica, through decades of investment in health, education, and environmental protection, now ranks among the highest in the Americas for life expectancy.
- Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness index measures prosperity through community vitality, mental health, and environmental balance, and it continues to guide national policy.
- Japan’s Society 5.0 framework links innovation to social inclusion, aiming to make technology serve human needs rather than replace them.
These examples show what becomes possible when a society puts well-being at the center. But going beyond policy, Tim emphasizes a cultural shift as well.
For you, that could be through work such as mentoring, parenting, teaching, or volunteering. After all, when society values care, it teaches people to look after one another. Plus, a stronger sense of belonging and a clearer understanding that their well-being is linked to the well-being of others.
And the measure of progress, according to Tim, is simple: prosperity depends on how well we sustain what sustains us.
Fuel your mind
The world moves fast. Sometimes, too fast for most of us to pause, think, or feel something real.
But reading can slow it all down. It reconnects you to ideas that challenge you, inspire you, and stay with you. And that’s what the Mindvalley Book Club was built for.
Each week, Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani handpicks powerful books on purpose, growth, and the art of living well. You’ll hear directly from the authors shaping the future of how we think, work, and evolve.
When you’re part of the Book Club, you’ll get:
- Books that move you to see the world differently.
- Weekly recommendations that go deeper than quick tips and trends.
- Conversations with authors who change how you see yourself.
- Insights that spark clarity in your work, relationships, and life.
- A global circle of readers who crave meaning, not just motivation.
The joining is free. But the reconnection it brings? That’s priceless.
Welcome in.
