Prosperity as health: Why we need an economy of care for a liveable future | BMJ article

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) | January 2026

Climate breakdown should be understood as a profound abdication of care, argues Tim Jackson in an opinion piece commissioned for the British Medical Journal‘s (BMJ’s) new year special issue on climate change. 

Addressing that failure will take more than clever technology or incremental policy reform, argues Jackson. It must start by reimagining the purpose of the economy and the direction of societal progress. That task brings us face to face with the distorted logic of perpetual economic growth. 

When prosperity is oriented around the continual pursuit of more, it increasingly generates social and ecological costs that exceed its benefits, creating a ‘false economy’ that degrades the planet, undermines health, and destabilises society.  

Drawing on arguments from his recent book The Care Economy, Tim’s article reframes prosperity as health and positions care—rather than growth—as the most fundamental organising principle for economic life.