Hazel Henderson and Juliet Schor in Conversation

Since the early 1980’s Hazel Henderson’s name has been synonymous with impact investing. Probably more than any other person, Henderson has been responsible for creating and promoting a set of social and environmental indicators by which to judge the real health of an economic system including the well-being of its citizens and its ecosystem. These indicators are then widely used to guide business practices and investment decisions.

A prolific commentator and critic of contemporary economics, Henderson launched Ethical Markets Media to provide a platform for discussion of these issues and to showcase examples of a well-being approach.

We are proud to honor over four decades of collaboration with Hazel Henderson with this Conversation.

Juliet Schor is both a sociologist and an economist. That unique combination leads her to ask what the citizen/consumer can do to affect a more just and regenerative economy and conversely explores the impact of our current economic system on our daily lives.

The titles of her books speak to this dual interest:

• The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure
• The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
• Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
• Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth

Publishers Weekly named her just released After the Gig:How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back, one of the Big Indie Books of 2020. In it Schor examines how the platform economy which promised flexibility and new opportunities for workers instead became exploitive.

Her carefully researched book goes on to offer strategies for how citizens can take back these platforms so that they are tools for a better way of working leading to a more regenerative economy. Not surprising, one of the problems she points to is corporate for-profit ownership of the platforms themselves. She instead recommends a cooperative ownership by the users on the platform.