What is Economic Independence? — Bridging To The Future

Economic independence holds a different meaning for many individuals, communities, institutions, regions and countries. For example, the desire for the Algerian LGBT community to become more economically independent, in terms of not being shunted from the labour market, is somewhat different to the post-colonial Jamaican government wanting to be more financially secure as a country.

If you are looking for an easy one-liner to reel off when asked about the definition of economic independence, good luck to you, and let me know if you find one. No one line can encompass the desires of so many distinct communities. Nonetheless, here is my attempt:

Increasing economic independence relies on expanding the capacity of people, communities, and institutions to make genuine choices about their futures without being financially constrained, thus obtaining the ability to participate fully, and with equality, in all available opportunities. Economic independence allows individuals and communities to have significant control of their destiny, to prioritise what is best for them without undue influence from central government and remote economic and corporate interests.

So, how do people obtain economic independence?

The most apparent method of obtaining economic independence is having people, communities and regions be able to spend money and therefore enable opportunities to develop themselves.

If we ignore large inheritances, a hedged stock portfolio, or a (mathematically illogical) lottery win, money is obtained through employment, or indeed, self-employment. Neither of these two constitute economic independence in itself; employment relies on an employer requiring your services while self-employment can be, to put it nicely, inconsistent. This is then half of the story. What is required is a network of social entrepreneurs that recognise the needs of local communities, injecting enthusiasm and confidence in business so that others also strive for economic independence.

I have committed a fallacy however: I have assumed that social entrepreneurs, social enterprises and social businesses are economically independent already. This is not really the case (I personally don’t believe that economic independence can be obtained, merely increased) but what these people/institutions have figured out is that money doesn’t need to be accumulated, but used for social good.

DT