Doughnut Economics

Doughnut Economics is a visual and conceptual framework developed by British economist Kate Raworth, first published as an Oxfam discussion paper in 2012 and expanded in her 2017 book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist. The model depicts a doughnut-shaped space defined by two concentric rings: an inner social foundation below which lie shortfalls in human well-being (such as food, water, health, education, income, gender equality, and political voice), and an outer ecological ceiling beyond which lie dangerous levels of planetary degradation. The "safe and just space for humanity" lies between these two boundaries.

The ecological ceiling draws directly on the planetary boundaries framework developed by Johan Rockström, Will Steffen, and colleagues at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (2009, updated 2015 and 2023), covering pressures such as climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, freshwater use, land conversion, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, chemical pollution, air pollution, and ozone depletion. The social foundation draws on priorities established in the UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015.

Raworth's framework challenges several pillars of mainstream economics, including the centrality of GDP growth, the assumption of rational economic actors, and the depiction of the economy as a closed circular flow detached from society and ecology. Instead, it advocates regenerative and distributive economic design.

The framework has moved beyond academia. In April 2020, Amsterdam became the first city to formally adopt the Doughnut as a guiding policy tool, working with Raworth's Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), founded that same year. Copenhagen, Brussels, Portland (Oregon), and Nanaimo (British Columbia) have since piloted "City Portraits" using the model. Critics argue the framework lacks concrete policy mechanisms, downplays the role of markets, and is difficult to operationalize at the national level.