Economy is Care

Economy is Care is a narrative-shifting campaign from the New Economy Hub that starts with a simple premise: An economy is not an abstract spreadsheet of growth targets. It is the daily web of relationships that determines how we live, work, care for each other, and steward the planet.

Dialogue Podcasts

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GDP measures profits; but it doesn’t measure people, dignity, or care.” — Dr Lebohang Pheko. GDP counts mines, not lungs. Prisons, not parenting. Extraction, not exhaustion. So what happens when we flip the script and measure what truly matters: care, time, health, trust, and dignity? This is the first dialogue in the Economy is Care series — Beyond GDP: Measuring What Matters in an Inclusive Economy.

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In Debt and Discipline, economists and justice advocates expose the hidden costs of austerity and reveal what a post-austerity future could look like if we designed fiscal policy around dignity and care instead of fear and control. If you’ve ever wondered where the money goes — and why there’s “never enough” for the people, this is the conversation you cannot afford to miss.

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“VAT taxes bread more reliably than wealth — and that should trouble us all.” — Thoko Madonko South Africa’s tax system is upside down. Bread is taxed before billionaires. Wages stall while profits climb. Trust in public spending is thin. But a fair, progressive tax system could rebuild a social contract rooted in care, justice, and accountability.

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“Money is not neutral. It’s a reflection of who holds power and right now, it isn’t us.” — Duma Gqubule Interest rates rise. Budgets tighten. “Prudence” is preached. But whose lives are protected and whose are made harder? This dialogue unpacks how the South African Reserve Bank and National Treasury shape monetary and fiscal policy, and how those decisions ripple through everyday life. It interrogates the balance between independence and accountability, and asks what it would mean to govern money in service of care, dignity, and social well-being not markets alone.

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“If our mothers could stretch every cent with love, why can’t our leaders budget with care?” — Matshidiso Lencoasa We’re told “the economy” is neutral, technical, inevitable. But who gets to define it? Whose interests does it really serve? And who pays the price when care is left out of the equation? This dialogue asks the most fundamental question of all: whose economy is it anyway? It interrogates power, priorities, and the stories we’ve been taught to accept and explores what must shift to build an economy that serves people and the planet, not profit alone.

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Economy is Care Playlists

These conversations aren’t new. Long before policy spaces caught up, artists, musicians, and communities have been wrestling with the same questions about justice, dignity, and care through rhythm, lyrics, poetry, and performance.

That’s why music and art are not an add-on, but the heartbeat of Economy is Care. They remind us that the economy is lived in bodies, kitchens, classrooms, and communities — not just in boardrooms or spreadsheets. For each dialogue, we curate a playlist as a way to metabolise tough economic debates through imagination, rhythm, and collective memory. These soundtracks invite us to think, feel, and move together making policy not only an intellectual exercise, but also a cultural one.

Radio Podcasts

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Policy Digests

Media Statements & Advisories