The Frugal Economy: Shifting The Mindset

Navi Radjou
2 min readOct 23, 2024

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To paraphrase Einstein: « We can’t create a new economy with the same mindset that created the old one »

The current mindset in our capitalist economy is based on ruthless competition, centralized production and concentration of power, and unrestrained extraction of natural resources that lead to their depletion.

To build a better economy, we must develop a new mindset that is based on cooperation, distribution, and regeneration — these are 3 major qualities we find in Nature.

But we face the ‘chicken or egg’ paradox: should we build a new mindset first or build a new economy first ?

I suggest we do both at the same time in a mutually reinforcing way.

We need to build a Frugal Economy that creates greater economic AND social AND ecological value while also minimizing waste and emissions.

As we build this frugal economy, we will also build a new mindset based on cooperation, distribution, and regeneration.

This Frugal Economy is no utopia.

It is rapidly emerging and is supported by 3 core pillars which embody the new mindset:

B2B sharing — which promotes cooperation.

Distributed manufacturing and hyper-local value networks — which distribute economic opportunities and value creation in multiple communities.

Triple regeneration — which revitalizes people, places, and the planet altogether synergistically.

A new generation of conscious customers and innovators are accelerating the rise of the Frugal Economy.

Order my new book The Frugal Economy to learn how your organization can shift its mindset and embrace B2B sharing, distributed and localized production, and triple regeneration.

Read my article that introduces The Frugal Economy.

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Navi Radjou
Navi Radjou

Written by Navi Radjou

Indian-French-American Scholar in Frugal Innovation + Wise Leadership. TED Speaker. Based in France. Visit: NaviRadjou.com

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