Meta-Economics:
An Emerging Field for Economic Transformation
Meta-Economics is a field-building initiative of the Garrison Institute that brings ethics, systems thinking, and contemplative insight into direct conversation with economic and business education. At a time when traditional economic models are increasingly misaligned with human and planetary well-being, Meta-Economics asks: What would it mean to educate future business leaders for moral purpose, relational responsibility, and long-term flourishing?
The program works by connecting what is already emerging across business schools: new courses, pedagogies, and frameworks that integrate climate realities, social equity, and an integrated orientation of inner development. Through research, mapping, and convenings of leading educators and thinkers, the Garrison Institute’s Meta-Economics helps surface shared principles and design patterns, making this growing body of work more visible, coherent, and actionable.
| READ: Jonathan F.P. Rose’s article “Meta-Economics: Generating Moral Economies“, in the International Review of Applied Economics. |
The next steps are collaboration across institutions, pilot projects in business education, and a sustained community of practice among faculty and leaders committed to re-imagining the purpose of economic life. Anchored in the Garrison Institute’s long experience of contemplative field-building, Meta-Economics nurtures the conditions under which a more ethical, systems-aware approach to economics can take root and scale.
Meta-Economics
as a “Generative Social Field”
The Garrison Institute’s Meta-Economics Initiative is a space for shared inquiry, relational insight, and moral imagination. It incorporates diverse movements like:
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- Regenerative Economics
- Well-Being Economies
- Doughnut Economics
- Cohesive Capitalism
- Life-Ennobling Economics
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Yet, where many alternative models critique the current paradigm or offer abstract blueprints, Meta-Economics also emphasizes practical transitions, reimagining the power of business schools to lead real change that involves institutions, narratives, and inner transformation.
Recently Added
From Fragmentation to Integration: Rethinking Leadership for a New Economic Era
On October 17, the Garrison Institute's co-founder Jonathan F. P. Rose joined renowned psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman for a powerful virtual forum at the University of Oxford. The conversation, "Fragmentation to Integration: Rethinking Leadership for a New Economic...
Join Us
Meta-Economics is an evolving conversation, and we invite you to engage
- Attend our webinars and join discussions.
- Explore our resource library and contribute new insights.
- Participate in convenings to help shape the field.
- Connect with us to add your project or research to the map.
Learn more and get involved and download our field-building plan for Meta-Economics.
“The rules of justice are accurate in the highest degree, and admit of no exceptions or modifications. … They are the foundation of all social order: when they are removed, the great, the immense fabric of human society… must in a moment crumble into atoms.”
– Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
Our Work
Webinars & Thought Leadership
Our Meta-Economics Webinar Series brings together leading thinkers from economics, philosophy, public policy, and spirituality to explore how ethical considerations shape markets, finance, and global economic systems.
Past sessions (see on the right):
- A Transformative Conversation on Moral Economies
- The Common Good: Exploring Island of Coherence with Indy Johar
- Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire with Rebecca Henderson
- Gross National Happiness as a Keystone in Sustainable Growth with Tshewang Wangchuk
- Eric Beinhocker On the New Economic Paradigm
Past Sessions