Menu
photo: Purnomo Capunk
To this day, “progress” of a country, a society, is defined in terms of its gross domestic product per capita. The higher this amount, the more successfully the country is judged with its culture, political and economic system.
But this measurement of prosperity is severely riddled with errors and omissions. In fact, it is a rather bizarre instrument to use as a serious tool to judge the progress and prosperity of a society.
In the last decade in particular, new parameters and methodologies have been developed to provide an intelligent insight into the state of a country, offering opportunities for effective policy choices and instruments.
The elections of Margaret Thatcher [UK – 1979] and Ronald Reagan [USA – 1981] marked the emergence of a new paradigm: Neo-Liberal Economics, an ideology that reigns to this day. This concept has failed completely, has proved destructive – in many ways.
Is there a new economic paradigm emerging? Is there a new coherent, inspiring narrative available that can be shared? Is there a network of influential economists and institutions that enable a new paradigm? Answer to practically all these questions: yes!
Milton Friedman was an American economist, nobel laureate [1976] and leader of the Chicago school of economics. His political philosophy acclaimed the virtues of a free market economic system with minimal government intervention. For businesses, this led, among many other things, to a strong focus on the short term, raising stock market prices by purchasing their own shares, so that less resources were available to invest in product innovation and employee training.
A growing number of companies however, have embraced a new vision of entrepreneurship for several years now and have tailored their mission, strategy and implementation plans to it….
This website is a personal narrative, based on 50 years experience in international business, non governmental organisations and consulting practise. My guest lectures at the Institute of Environmental Sciences [Leiden University, The Netherlands] are derived from it.
Ludo van Oyen – Brussels, 2021
Some photos are taken from the web. If you think your photo is used and you disagree, please send me an e-mail and I will remove it from this site.