A Guide to Economic Empowerment: Policy, Anti-Corruption, and Inclusive Capitalism

How Consumers, Savers, and Citizens Have the Power to Transform Society for the Better

Economic empowerment is the idea that individuals are free to make decisions over their own lives and equipped to influence the world around them through everyday decisions. Everyone engages in the economy. Citizens with economic power assert influence through spending, savings, and charitable decisions. Every act itself is a means of asserting individual impact—or at least it has the potential to do so.

This recognizes that democracy is not only about elections and governance. It is built on a foundation of empowering society. An empowered citizenry is better able to hold government accountable and serve the interests of the population.

Economics factors into the discussion, not only as a means to an end (i.e. policy decisions on tax and spending), but it also serves a key function throughout the democratic process.

Competition Over Economic Systems

This analysis comes at a time of great competition of ideas about economic systems. Worldwide and within the United States, capitalism itself has come under significant strain. Increasingly, citizens are looking at the power dynamics of the system and asking whether capitalism itself is to blame for the imbalance. Revolutionary movements are shaping the debate. So it is well worth taking a deeper look at what the global economic system is.

In a separate forthcoming analysis, the GER examines the state of the U.S. capitalist system—a system that has evolved from a free-market model to a mixed of state capitalism trending toward oligarchy. Here, we announce a purpose to facilitate economic empowerment and establish a framework for assisting policy development.

Establishing a Common Goal of Economic Freedom

First, let’s assume the goal is to create the greatest amount of freedom for the greatest number of people. Then, we have a basis for evaluating whether economic systems meet or defeat that goal.

Furthermore, we can take it a step further. Specifically, we can examine policies to determine whether they advance or undermine individuals’ economic worth.

Seven Principles for Economic Policies

Across global systems, the most empowering policies and structures do the following:

1. They increase choice.The more individuals are able to make decisions about their education, career, leisure, health, family, and retirement, the greater freedom and autonomy they have.
2. They reduce risk of catastrophic loss. For example, the risk of impoverishment due to healthcare, unemployment, or natural disaster can be mitigated through insurance, savings, and social safety nets.
3. They promote ownership, not just income. Whether it is home ownership or investing in business through stocks or mutual funds, owning assets increases independence. Moreover, it can give individuals influence over corporate decisions. Proxy voting and consumer boycotts, for example, have the potential to impact outcomes.
4. They avoid dependency traps. Well-designed policies support growth and upward mobility, for instance, support for education and training. Meanwhile, policymakers should design social safety net supports in ways that allow and encourage recipients to take part in the economy, rather than dissuading job seekers.
5. They enable mobility. Policies should allow individuals freedom to choose location, training, and jobs. The best-case scenarios are economic policies that facilitate upward class mobility.
6. They root out corruption. Corruption is a scourge on society, impacting both authoritarian and democratic systems. Unchecked, it gives capitalism a bad name. Corruption infects healthy business dealings and operations and produces winners and losers.
7. They provide for fair opportunity. A fair system allows access to economic opportunities, based on interest and merit, rather than privilege or connection. This goal can pose challenges particularly at a time when a K-shaped economy produces both economic growth and greater inequality.

Financial Literacy Needed

On the individual or community level, seeking economic autonomy requires financial literacy. According to Gallup News, approximately 62 percent of U.S. adults have money invested in the stock market through individual stocks, mutual funds, or retirement accounts. Engagement requires some knowledge of the market.

AI Makes Empowerment Policies Necessary

Now that Artificial Intelligence is taking on a larger role in economic systems, it is even more important to examine the causal relationships among policies, investments, and trends. AI impacts everything from the labor market, the environment, data collection, privacy, to energy bills. It challenges individual autonomy even as it provides new tools to engage economically and democratically.

In 2023, the GER looked at labor strike movements in the auto and entertainment industries, which had been impacted by an “existential crisis” due to technological change. For writers in Hollywood, the issues related to the gig economy and artificial intelligence. The auto workers, meanwhile, tried to secure a future in the industry as it undergoes a global transformation to electric vehicles. Both strikes ended up in deals with management. Automakers Ford, Stellantis, and GM provided up to 25 percent pay raises over four and a half years, reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments, and elimination of some tiered wage. The Writers Guild of America secured historic protections from AI including protections against the use of AI in scriptwriting.

This page will be updated periodically.