The Real Wealth of Nations

Riane Eisler argues that modern economic systems fail because they exclude the foundational labor of caregiving and environmental stewardship from national accounting. She introduces the caring economics framework, which demonstrates how the unpaid work of raising children and tending to the elderly provides the base for all productive market activity. By analyzing the limitations of the Gross Domestic Product, the author identifies a systemic devaluation of life-sustaining tasks. She proposes specific policy shifts, such as social wealth indicators and government subsidies for caregivers, to replace the current focus on military spending and industrial output.

Economists, community organizers, and policy advocates read this work to understand the structural causes of poverty and environmental decay. Readers learn how to integrate social hygiene and domestic labor into formal financial models. The text provides a practical vocabulary for discussing human capacity as a primary asset rather than an external cost. Those who finish the book walk away with a plan for restructuring institutional priorities to reward the labor that maintains society’s social fabric and natural resources.

Outward-looking; a moderate read.

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