Topic
Economy
Commentary
New Economic Thinking (NET) aims to design an economy fit for the 21st century, challenging neoliberalism and exploring alternative models such as green, feminist, and solidarity economics. NET promotes policies that serve both people and the planet. It fosters collaboration and offers tools for building fairer, more sustainable economies.
While the UK has long been a stronghold of neoliberal economics, it has also become a hub for new economic thinking. Despite emerging collaborations among actors, challenges remain due to limited resources and differing priorities. However, with growing connections and efforts to overcome these tensions, systemic economic transformation is gaining momentum.
Finland’s intellectual and policy landscape remains dominated by neoliberalism, with limited space for alternative economic thinking. While few independent new economic actors exist, institutions like universities, labour unions, and political parties are home to new economic thinkers. Despite resistance, shifts in public discourse, such as debates around Finland’s budgetary frame, suggest opportunities for change and the growth of alternative economic narratives.
Greece’s history of societal unrest fuels anti-neoliberal sentiments, but new economic thinking remains fragmented. Activism and grassroots movements thrive, yet they lack institutional backing. While heterodox economists like Yanis Varoufakis have influence, deeper collaboration is hindered by ideological divides. Opportunities lie in sustainability efforts, particularly in energy communities, which challenge traditional capitalist structures.
France’s new economic thinking is small, fragmented, and largely issue-oriented, with a focus on social justice and environmental issues. The field is supported by academic networks, cooperatives, and NGOs, but systemic transformation is limited by a lack of cross-sectoral funding and institutional support. Despite influential thinkers like Thomas Piketty, heterodox economics remains weak in academia and policymaking, hindering broader economic change. However, there is growing interest among students and the public in alternative economic models that address ecological crises.
Publications
Finland, like all countries of the Global North, is currently dependent on economic growth. Yet future growth may be very limited and uncertain – and decoupling it from increasing environmental harm will not be easy. Could the principle of sufficiency help us navigate towards better futures?
This policy brief focuses on short-term action (2026-2028) around AI governance and provides practical guidelines for experts and policymakers. It introduces a framework that embeds democratic pillars — participation, freedom, equality, transparency, knowledge, and the rule of law — directly into the entire AI lifecycle.
In this Editorial, we tackle perhaps the most urgent issue of our time – the need to orient lives more towards sufficiency. Achieving such a transformation also requires a parallel paradigm shift in science. In this Editorial, we have two guest authors, Teemu Koskimäki and Aleksi Neuvonen, who are members of the SISU Consortium doing research on sufficiency transition in Finland.
Projects
How can we secure societal wellbeing and sustain the promises of the welfare state in a world where economic growth is limited or even cools down? Sustainability rooted in sufficiency, rather than growth, can reshape businesses, the economy, and societal wellbeing.
Even though economic instruments for sustainability purposes have long been implemented in the national policies across the Nordics, their effectiveness remains understudied. This project evaluates the effectiveness of environmental taxes and charges in shifting behaviours of consumers and producers towards a more sustainable direction in the Nordic countries.
Despite being an established indicator of economic growth, GDP is debated to overlook the true essence of citizens’ quality of life and overall wellbeing. This project aims to improve knowledge on indicators beyond GDP, alternative and more sustainable policy options, and scenarios for a sustainable future.
People
Moona Hartman
Moona is the linguist of Demos Helsinki, always ready to dive into the topic of how language shapes the world and the way we see it. She believes that (wordplay and) words play a part in how we can build up or rip down societal structures and therefore fight for…
Rasmus Kull
Sustainability transformations are inherently complex. How can organisations lean into research, technology, and stakeholder interaction to make better decisions while navigating that complexity? Questions like these drive Rasmus in his work. Work that connects knowledge with action draws him in like a moth to a flame: be it turning research…
Artturi Pura
Artturi is driven by the question of how public policy can shape socially just, economically prosperous, and democratically sustainable futures. Recognising that these societal goals are increasingly intertwined with our digital landscape, Artturi explores how to strengthen the capacity of policy to govern and reshape technological change. At Demos Helsinki,…
Ella Välimäki
Ella is an Expert at Demos Helsinki, working at the intersection of society, technology, and the wellbeing economy. She focuses on how engagement and interaction can serve as tools for societal transformation. With a background in international relations and EU politics, Ella is driven by a desire to support a…
Sahib Singh
Sahib spends his time at Demos Helsinki’s preoccupied by just democratic futures and global governance. At the moment he won’t stop nattering about the need to think systemically and critically about democratic innovations, the political economy of global governance institutions and modes of effective alliance building. At his best, Sahib’s…
Anna Björk
Anna is a political scientist whose academic love affairs include research on political concepts, societal impacts of emerging technologies, and temporality. Her current research analyses societal transformations from the perspectives of EU digital policy, contemporary social contracts, and inclusivity. Alongside doing research, Anna is also working closely with her colleagues…
Otso Sillanaukee
Otso aims to ensure that Demos Helsinki is focusing on the right questions related to people and organisations’ agency in building a fair, sustainable, and joyful next era. His accountabilities include identifying impact opportunities, ensuring projects run smoothly towards their goals, and supporting the team’s wellbeing and motivation to tackle…
Julia Jousilahti
Julia is a social scientist working in Demos Helsinki’s Emancipatory Economy team. As the economy is a man-made system and not a force of nature, Julia is convinced we can build a better economic system – one that admits the fundamental interconnectedness with nature and guarantees the basic assets of…
Johannes Nuutinen
Leading societal transformations is no easy task that we have chosen here at Demos Helsinki. It requires constant strategic planning and new initiatives. Luckily, Johannes brings clarity to all the ambiguity surrounding half-drawn visions of impact. This means finding the relevant concrete steps to implement new forms of collaboration or…
Oona Frilander
Oona Frilander (M.Econ.) is a senior consultant at Demos Helsinki. She works to understand long-term societal change and rapid transformation of private, public and third sector organizations’ operational environments. Her expertise lies in strategic foresight and cross-sectoral partnerships for solving societal challenges. Oona is also is a lecturer through the…
Roope Mokka
Roope is all about the future. For many the future seems scary, but where some see problems Roope sees solutions. He has an exceptional mindset to see the pathway for societal transformation. He gathers impactful alliances through various fields to work together with a shared goal. Whether it is learning…
Juha Leppänen
Juha Leppänen serves as Chair of the Board at Demos Helsinki. With a mission to build a fair, sustainable and joyful next era, Juha helps national and local governments, businesses and NGOs to anticipate and lead key transformations of our century. Advising actors from private corporations like Nokia to NGOs…
Themes
Transforming our economies to address this reality is hard work—but it’s work we can do together.
Humble Timber: Building towards a carbon-neutral future
March 9, 2022
Timber buildings offer a sustainable solution to decarbonizing construction. The Humble Timber alliance, led by Demos Helsinki, brings together key stakeholders in Finland’s building industry to address challenges in transitioning to carbon-neutral construction. By fostering collaboration and identifying shared goals, the alliance aims to overcome barriers like the supply-demand dilemma and promote timber as a competitive and sustainable building material for the future.