The Quakernomics blog is a forum for discussion and debate about the economic system and the relationships between economics, our lives, and the planet. It is a space to both reflect on and plan ways to build a more just and sustainable world.

It has been set up by the Economic Issues Group of Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) as a space for Friends and others to share ideas, debate, learn and be inspired to take action.

Who are we?

The Economic Issues Group is a group of Friends appointed to oversee centrally managed Quaker work on economic justice. Staff in Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) take forward the group’s ideas.

QPSW’s Economic Justice work seeks to promote a fairer and more equitable international economic system that meets the needs of all. We work to influence the policies of governments, companies and international economic institutions and to encourage greater popular understanding of these issues.

Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) works with, and on behalf of Friends in Britain to translate Quaker faith into action. The Quaker testimonies to peace, equality, simplicity and truth are a challenge to alleviate suffering and seek positive social change. For more about Quaker testimonies see www.quaker.org.uk. For more about Quaker Peace and Social Witness see www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw.

Why economics?

Quakers have long sought to highlight and challenge the injustices of the economic system, driven by the Quaker testimonies to peace, simplicity, truth and equality.

Quakers believe that peace is not just the absence of war. Friends have long advocated that peace is a process concerned with social transformation and right relationships. Economic injustice is itself a form of ‘structural violence’, and economic systems which are based on justice rather than exploitation are a necessary component of a peaceful society.

Economic injustice – the unfair or unequal distribution of or access to resources and opportunity – can create or add to social tensions, and act as a source of conflict and division. Around the world today there are many instances where the economic system has resulted in the poorest and most vulnerable struggling to access basic necessities such as food, safe water or health care, sometimes resulting in, or contributing to, conflict, civil unrest and even war.

The nature of the economic system is also at the heart of the ability of humankind to live sustainably on this planet and to manage and share the earth’s resources equally. Many Friends believe that the current mainstream economic system, which emphasises growth and has been reliant on the use of carbon, has been the driving force behind environmental degradation and climate change. Through the testimony to simplicity many Friends on an individual level have eschewed unnecessary consumerism, and many challenge the present system and live alternatives through, for example, their involvement in the Transition Town Movement (www.transitiontowns.org).