07/09/2025
🚨 The Dark Side of Economic Success: What Asia's "Economic Miracle" Reveals About True Prosperity 🚨
New research from the Asian Development Bank Institute challenges a fundamental assumption about economic development: that escaping the middle-income trap automatically leads to human flourishing.
📊 The Surprising Findings:
Studying Japan, Singapore, and South Korea from 2010-2023, researchers found that GDP growth did NOT translate into improvements in:
- Social solidarity (community bonds)
- Personal agency (empowerment & autonomy)
- Environmental stewardship
Key Insights:
✅ Singapore: GDP growth correlated with MORE solidarity
❌ Japan: GDP growth linked to LESS agency and environmental health
❌ South Korea: GDP growth associated with environmental degradation
The Hidden Costs of "Success":
- Social fragmentation (Japan's hikikomori phenomenon)
- Disempowerment (overwork culture, job insecurity)
- Environmental degradation despite green tech advances
Introducing the SAGE Framework for True Prosperity:
🤝 SOLIDARITY - The psychosocial mechanisms that create prosocial group organization
- Essential for physical & mental health
- Builds collaboration to address collective challenges
- Creates meaning, worth, and belonging
⚡ AGENCY - The ability to make and enact beneficial decisions through individual/collective effort
- Promotes self-efficacy and mental health
- Drives adaptation to changing environments
- Builds psychological resilience and motivation
💰 GAIN - GDP per capita (material prosperity)
- Satisfies basic human material needs
- Enables consumption of goods and services
- Traditional measure of economic success
🌱 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP - Responsible use, protection, and regeneration of nature
- Promotes mental health and cognitive function
- Creates internal harmony and sense of purpose
- Ensures sustainable foundation for all human activity
The Critical Insight: These four elements are NOT commodities that can be "purchased" with income. Solidarity, agency, and environmental health require fundamentally different approaches than economic growth.
For Business Leaders: As we pursue growth, are we also investing in:
- Community development and social cohesion?
- Employee empowerment and meaningful work?
- Environmental restoration and stewardship?
True success requires all four SAGE pillars working in concert.
What's your take? How can organizations balance economic growth with social solidarity, personal agency, and environmental responsibility?