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New Economic Models: Balancing Tech, Longevity, and Low-Carbon Living

  • Writer: horizonshiftlab
    horizonshiftlab
  • Nov 6
  • 18 min read
Man in meditation pose floating over a world map, with a microchip on the left and a green leaf with wind turbine on the right. Calm mood.
Image Source: AI generated via Canva

New economic models are essential for a future focused on well-being, climate, and planetary boundaries. Hosts Sue and Raakhee kick off a new theme on finance and investing by stepping back to examine how the global economic system is being redefined. The discussion highlights the inescapable rise of a technology-driven economic model, noting how countries like South Korea are investing billions into sectors like the semiconductor industry. While this drive is concerning due to the social, resource, and power consumption tolls , technology also holds the key to developing sustainable and clean energy solutions.


The episode also explores the longevity economy, focusing on how aging populations in places like Singapore and Seoul are being re-framed as an economic asset rather than a burden. Examples include Singapore’s "vertical village" concept for aging in place and its Skills Future Program for re-skilling older adults. Finally, the hosts look at the low-carbon economic model, citing countries that get over 90% of their electricity from low-carbon sources and "carbon sink" countries that are already net-zero emitters. The central theme is how to forge a "coexistence" between these disparate models for collective prosperity and wellness.





Coexistence, Not Competition: Navigating the New Economic Models of the Future

As the world grapples with the accelerating pace of technological change and the stark realities of climate change, the very economic systems that govern our lives are being fundamentally re-evaluated. The old models, often criticized for prioritizing profit over planetary and community health , are giving way to new frameworks that center on well-being, longevity, and sustainability.

For working professionals navigating mid-career questions and future-proofing their skills, understanding these new economic models is crucial. The future will be defined by an intentional coexistence of seemingly disparate philosophies—a "murky middle" where technology and human-centric values must align.


Here are two of the most prominent—and polarizing—economic models that are defining the next wave of global growth and governance.


1. The Technology-Driven Economic Model

In this model, technology is the primary engine of economic growth, productivity, and, by extension, prosperity. Countries like South Korea are leaning heavily into this approach, with massive incentive packages supporting sectors like the semiconductor industry, viewing it as a foundation for national economic success.

The Dual Edge of Tech:

  • The Concern: The rapid proliferation of AI and data centers raises alarms about the social impact on human well-being and the enormous strain on natural resources, particularly water, land, and power. The AI market is expected to surpass $825 billion by 2030, an expansion that far outpaces previous technologies.

  • The Hope: While a full rewind to pre-tech times seems unlikely, technology is also the key to unlocking solutions for sustainable growth. It is the force pushing the boundaries of renewable energy and clean power, offering the only way to drive progress while keeping the environment safe and healthy. Every future mixed economy will, to some extent, be technology-driven.


2. The Longevity and Health-Centered Economic Model

Driven by aging populations, particularly in places like Singapore and South Korea , this model re-orientates society to view older demographics not as a social burden but as a massive, unrealized economic asset.

  • The Value: People aged 50 and older already account for one-third of the global GDP today and could reach nearly 40% by 2050. Furthermore, increasing healthy life expectancy by just one year could equate to a 4% to 5% boost in GDP. If the U.S. fails to close the gap between life expectancy and healthy lifespan, the cost could be $1.6 trillion in lost economic activity by 2030.

  • A Holistic Approach: To capture this value, cities are building infrastructure focused on aging in place. Singapore's Kampung Admiralty Area is a vertical village that integrates homes, hospitals, schools, retail, and green spaces to encourage active, intergenerational relationships. South Korea’s "Healthier Seoul 9988" initiative similarly focuses on disease prevention and building a foundation for "happiness and flourishing". Both countries are rethinking retirement and implementing programs like Singapore's SkillsFuture, which allows adults aged 15 and older to earn credits to re-skill and remain employable.


3. The Low Carbon Economic Model

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the low carbon economic model, which prioritizes ecological protection and a reduced carbon footprint. Globally, 39% of electricity already comes from low carbon sources, but this is heavily concentrated in certain nations.

  • Global Leaders: Countries like Paraguay, Iceland, Sweden, and Uruguay get over 95% of their electricity from low carbon sources, often relying on renewables like hydropower. France and Sweden utilize nuclear power to achieve over low carbon electricity, 90% for France.

  • The Carbon Sinks: Eight countries, known as "carbon sinks," absorb more carbon than they emit. These nations, such as Bhutan and Gabon, prioritize sustainable forestry, subsistence farming, and limited industrial sectors. They also form alliances, such as the one between Panama, Suriname, and Bhutan, to promote carbon pricing and trade aligned with net-zero goals.


The Path to Coexistence

The challenge for the future is not to choose one model over another, but to design a strategic coexistence where economic prosperity can thrive alongside wellness and environmental protection.

For educated professionals, the takeaway is clear: the future requires a mindset that embraces technological necessity while upholding human values. The conversation is shifting from whether to invest in AI to how to use it to support models like longevity and low carbon economies. This adaptability and the ability to integrate diverse values will be the ultimate professional superpower.





Selected Links:

Technology, AI, and Economic Models:

Sustainability and Low-Carbon Economy:

Healthy Longevity and Urban Living:



Episode Transcript:

Sue: (00:00)

Hello and welcome to Signal Shift. It's Sue here. I've got Raakhee as well. Today marks the beginning of a new theme on finance and investing. And I thought we'd begin with actually a bit of a step back to look at the broader economic system or the economy. And I think it's important because humming underneath everything we do from what we eat, where we work, how we move, how we live, it's our economic system.


And so, you know, as we've explored in so many episodes, the system wasn't really built to protect a lot of things like our health, our planet, our communities. So really, how do we move forward? And, you know, previous generations have actually tackled this in different ways, right? So at least personally for me, I got super interested when I learned about Grameen Bank, I learned about C.K. Prahalad's pyramid theory and, you know, how we can make the economy more inclusive.


And since then, there've been ideas more of microfinance, of social entrepreneurship, and now we're moving into this phase of just redefining the system altogether. Like how do you make something that's more focused on a regenerative economy, focused on wellbeing, of climate, planetary boundaries, things like that. And of course, even now we're thinking about how AI is rebuilding the economy as well.


So this episode, we're gonna focus on new economic models from anywhere from discovering small community pilots to maybe what larger cities or even countries are doing.


So I'm curious, Raakhee, what signals have you brought today?


Raakhee: (01:35)

I will say, I don't think either of these are too new, but I think they're going to both be prominent. I think it speaks to where the world is going, and some of it is good and some of it is bad. So I'll start with the first one. And it's here already. I think I'll premise this with saying


It's very hard to find any place or any country, certainly, that isn't a mixed economy, that doesn't apply many models. So within a specific community, sure, maybe you could apply one kind of principle.


And for example, maybe a community could barter, right? And it could work within a small town, within a certain number of people. But the minute you increase the number of people and other complex factors that have to be managed, it gets really hard, right? And so it makes sense that we live in really the time of mixed economy, that countries have to apply many different principles and not just one to how its economy functions. But I guess the first one, and this will be a polarizing one.


I'm sure, and one we don't want to accept, but it's the whole concept of technology-driven economic model, right? is completely based on technology driving both economic growth, productivity, and the premise under that is through that we have prosperity, right?


And so through the technology, we ultimately have sustainable economic growth. Everybody does better, et cetera, et cetera. But certain countries have suddenly leaned into this big time. Now, of course, the US has its own AI drive. Many other countries do, but countries like South Korea are very much taking this approach to how they're setting up their countries.


and what they want the economic model to be. And you can see this with what they're doing with the chip sector. They've got a $19 billion incentive package in the semiconductor industry, basically making that the, really the foundation of their economic prosperity.


So there is the scary side of, yes, technology, but we know that there's an impact of what's happening to us socially as human beings, our mental well-being, as well as the toll on our resources, such as water and land and how much of that we're using in power, right? I mean, looking at the data around the data centers and how they're growing and how much land and water usage is happening with this, it is concerning.


the future growth and expansion of the AI market is expected to surpass $825 billion by 2030. So I think you spoke about this in a previous episode, right? But it's the extent of proliferation and growth of AI far surpasses what we've seen with other technology. We haven't even brought in advanced robotics yet.


But the other positive thing that we cannot forget and we cannot escape also is because the truth is we can't really rewind and go back to old technologies. I mean, maybe that's the answer, but I don't see that happening in society. We are, all economies are going to, to some extent, be technology driven. But the one hopeful thing is that


Technology also pushes the boundaries of what we can do in terms of renewable energy, in terms of sustainable sources, and coming up with clean energy solutions, we do need to use all this energy, but it can be clean, and we can do this the right way. And the only way to find some of those solutions is going to be technology.


And so the very thing I know that is concerning us might also be the solution to us getting to this point of renewable energy and clean power and clean energy that can still drive technology, but keep our environment clean and safe and healthy. but yeah, I think we can't escape the truth of everything in every country and every space, I think, going to have some element of the mixed economy is gonna be technology driven economic model.


Sue: (05:31)

Yeah, that's a really great point. And yeah, definitely love that signal because I haven't seen it coming forward. But of course, you know, there's going to be that need. I think to your point, it's the question of, you know, to what end are the resources going to be drawn? And when you think about longevity and sustainability, what are the costs and is there an ultimate gain in the long run that will be had?


Also funny that you brought up Seoul because I also have a signal around Seoul. Of course, when we're thinking about new economic models, when things are fundamentally changing in society, it always begs the question for what's working now and what has to change. And there's a lot happening there. I think that's interesting in bringing up a lot of new innovation. yeah, think bringing up Seoul, it's been in a lot of our episodes before. Also bringing up Singapore too, which has come up a lot.


for me and this particular signal is around longevity. Makes sense, right? They both have aging populations. They've really had to think about what it means to reorient themselves towards an older population and this quote unquote longevity economy. And essentially what I think it means is it's moving from a place where you think of kind of older aging populations as one as like a huge cost and social burden to the economy.


Versus now thinking about it as an opportunity and a huge unrealized economic asset. So just a couple of things that I found, AARP and Oxford economics global, they had a global longevity economic outlook. They said people aged 50 and older are already one third of global GDP today. And by 2050, could be nearly 40%. And that's just current estimates.


There is an economist out there named Andrew Scott who wrote about kind of this longevity economy. And he said, if you increase health life expectancy by one year, that could equate to four to 5 % of GDP. So it was like huge ramifications. So he was saying like, imagine where you do have a society that's living longer, but also healthier. They're mentally active. mean, so many of our episodes have been talking about this.


And so everything has to change, the jobs, the innovation, new industries, the way you think about it. So I love that Singapore has been thinking about this for a while. They have an explicit focus on this so that older adults can continue to participate. So one thing I found was it's actually been up for quite some time now. It's called the Kampung Admiralty Area. And it's this vertical village concept where they're basically the goal is to have people age in place.


And so it's designed where they integrate homes and living with retail, with schools, a hospital, social centers, quality of life, right? So people can garden, they can walk around, there's a plaza, they have food, the hawker stalls, like things like that, and a lot of green spaces. They also have a preschool there. So there's very purposeful intergenerational relationships that can be forged there.


You know, so it's just like one pilot example, as you said, like there has to be many more, but they have this idea of like aging, active aging centers that they want all over Singapore. And so that's just one example in the design of what they're doing with different agencies in Singapore to come together to collaborate, to have more of like a holistic design versus singular. OK, you go to the hospital here, you go to work here, you go to school here, and now everything's incorporated.


And beyond that, they're rethinking their retirement system. think Lana a while ago brought this up, I think about the Skills Future Program in Singapore that allows basically people age 15 older to re-skill and earn credits to stay employable into the future. And they're also thinking safety nets, like all of those things, ideally because they want people to live well into a hundred and live really these meaningful lives. They're already at 83 years old, right? So they're continuing to go into that. And then I would just say that Seoul is really similar. So last month Seoul's metropolitan government actually issued an announcement saying they're gonna have initiatives. It's called Healthier Seoul 9 9 8 8. I don't know what that means, but they actually wanted to talk about building a foundation of happiness and flourishing.


So I thought that was interesting. And their idea again is we want to lower the health burden on the economy and actually help increase lifespan into something that people can be healthier and have more meaningful lives. So again, similarly, they're focused on disease prevention and longevity now and really changing their infrastructure so that it's needed to make healthy choices. I'm sure there's a lot of tech built


Sue: (10:26)

But like you said, this is an example of Seoul and Korea thinking of these mixed economy models and how they need to grapple with different issues that are affecting their society and culture. So really interesting also to see how those two things will collide.


Raakhee: (10:41)

Yeah, I love that. I love I love both those examples. And I mean, I think we've naturally been drawn to countries and cities as our examples for these models. I think those are two great examples where technology is coexisting alongside other values. Right. And alongside other economic models that support technology driven economic models. So I think that is so interesting.


You're so right, right? If we are this aging population and then the numbers look like what they do in the next couple of years we have to be longevity and health centered economies as well. And yeah, I'm going to be really interested to see what comes out of places like Singapore and South Korea and what they do and how they balance tech and wellness and well-being and grow the economies but not the detriment of the well-being of their people. and you're right, I remember Lana spoke about the skills program and I think we did an episode on smart cities, I recall with Lana as well and I think I spoke about a very similar example in Singapore where they are building these kind of hubs of how you integrate that the hospital is walkable, that schools walkable, and that people don't have to use that much transport just keeping energy clean, but making it really useful and cost effective for the people living there.


Sue: (12:03)

And again, they don't have a choice. They have to think about this, you know, and and so it's great to see years of effort. What's coming of it? I couldn't really find any statistics on the impact it's had on the residents, for example, in this one area. But yeah, hopefully something will come out soon. I think on the flip side, just to mention what happens when you don't do this. Right. So AARP also put out a call and a report that said in the U.S., if you don't close this.


So there's this kind of life expectancy versus healthy lifespan gap. And if you don't close that, at least in the US, it's going to cost $1.6 trillion in lost economic activity by 2030. That is 2030. That is tomorrow. So it's really necessary to capture this economic value, have really good meaningful lives for the future and just think about that lost economic potential of all these people. So there is an active choice we need to make.


Raakhee: (13:03)

Totally Sue, and I think fascinating, but countries like India are starting to creep up on the age of death sort of statistics, Compared to the US, which I think is kind of going backwards. So, you know, it's, yeah, there's definitely another concerning factor there.


Yeah, and so the other one was kind of the opposite end of the spectrum and kind of shifting away from technology. And then it was actually what is being called the low carbon economic model or low carbon economy. And this was really interesting to discover, like, what are, yeah, what does low carbon look like in the world? Who's a model for this? What are they doing globally? Thirty nine percent of the electricity.


right, actually comes from low carbon sources. OK, so that's not a bad number if we look at kind of overall in the world, but it's very varied. So some countries are certainly carrying a heavier load of that than other places in the world. Some countries, right, get almost all of the electricity from low carbon sources, places like Paraguay, Iceland, Sweden, Uruguay they get more than 95 % of the electricity from low carbon sources. France, how interesting is this, gets more than 90 % And so of course these countries naturally are following a low carbon economic model And it would be with other models, but it's critical and key to them.


Low carbon electricity can actually come from things like nuclear or renewables like hydropower or solar or wind. Just depends on your country's resources and set up and what's going to work. So in Iceland and in Uruguay, most of electricity actually comes from renewables, particularly hydropower. Places like France, which, like I said, is 90 percent, you know, coming from low carbon sources and Sweden as well, nuclear is critical for those countries and they use nuclear power. So I think really interesting examples there. And so there's not a long list of countries that are on this list.


Also these eight countries now that have reached net zero emissions, helping to combat climate change massively. And they have a really cool term for these countries. They call them carbon sinks, like a sink, because they're absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they emit. And that's the goal. In most of these countries, they are small.


Of course, they have very small industrial sectors, right? And that's the big key here. But they really prioritize ecological protection above most other things in this economic model. So some of the countries on this net zero emissions, Bhutan, maybe this one people might have known, right? And Bhutan has this whole vision for the city they're to create. I think we might have seen that in recent months.


And they really operate on subsistence farming, sustainable forestry and tourism. And they want to set themselves up as this wellness tourism sort of venue and place to be. We don't hear about the example, but Gabon in Africa, they have these amazing rainforests, right? They take up 88 % of I think like the landmass. So they helped by the very setup of their natural resources and their land. But how cool is that? Another country called Comoros, Guyana, Panama, Suriname, Madagascar, these are all countries in Africa and South America. And so it certainly points again to where solutions might lie, what different countries are doing.


Panama has actually joined forces with Suriname and Bhutan, they have a carbon negative alliance. And so, you know, they basically do carbon pricing support, trade that operates accordingly, and encourage each other's efforts to reach net zero.


I think there's a lot we can learn from these countries, what I like about the low carbon energy model is it's something that doesn't need to even happen at the mass level. It can start right now in our neighborhoods, in our towns, in our municipalities, right, is to bring that up and say, that's not a ridiculous goal. What do we do and how do we educate our communities to start supporting this? I know technology driven is right on the other end of the scale. But I think it's going to be so interesting to see how do we bring these differing ideas together for both economic prosperity, but also just protecting our environment and ourselves, our own wellbeing as well.


Sue: (17:38)

That's fascinating, Raakhee. And I like that you brought up the Alliance as well, because I think one thing I was thinking with some of the low carbon examples are fully sustainable eco villages, for example, that I saw is the question you posed in the beginning was how can you possibly scale something like this, the bigger you bring it. But if you're doing more Alliance work where you can share some of these best practices and really help encourage each other to do that.


That's definitely helpful and makes me wonder there probably is some kind of coalition amongst some of these bigger eco cities and how to continue that work. Yeah, I think the big theme for me coming up is that word coexistence. And how do you, with all these changes moving into the future, think, how do you help kind of forge this coexistence so they can really enhance each other versus kind of extract from each other, right?


Raakhee: (18:29)

Think you hit that on the head there, Sue. I think that's exactly it, right? I think the reason I brought up technology-driven, although it's such an obvious one, is to say there's just no escaping this. I think right now there's this approach of you either investing in AI and you're investing in these data centers and it's seen as completely a lot of profit and you're opposed to it when you're saying that's not the way we're to go. But I think the reality lies somewhere really in that murky middle.


I don't think we're backtracking on AI at this point in time. The intelligence can lend to incredible things like our longevity and our health and solutions for us as a society. So how do we do that but still protect our environments and do this the right way? And that can only come through other smarter models like, OK, how do we do low carbon? And how do we get technology to support us?


Creating those kinds of models. It's never going to be perfect, but I do believe that we can pull and push different levers at different times for prosperity and wellness. I do believe that's achievable. I think what stands in the way of that is the complexity of bringing people together in agreement, the very human stuff, which can make things complicated.


Sue: (19:43)

Yeah, absolutely. And one thing that seems clear to me is it can't be the status quo. There are too many things that are moving forward for us to just say kind of the existing economic models that we've been operating on are just the ones that we're going to move into the future. mean, so much of our world is changing. Whether you even think about the movement into AI and tech, you do think about the longevity. These are all real situations that we don't currently have, major solutions for that are working together.


So yeah, I will meet you in that murky middle. Yeah, and I am encouraged that there are people that have already thought about this. There are cities, no matter how big or small, that are really starting to invest in these pilots because we don't actually have that much time before it's here, right? Some of it's already here that we have to think about.


I think this was an important grounding as we get into the next couple of weeks of really thinking about the future of finance, investing, and money, because underlying it is kind of these assumptions of how do we think our world works and how might it change in the future and what are some of these new innovations actually addressing. So I hope you stick with us for the next couple of weeks as we explore this theme. Thank you as always for listening and watching. And if you have any comments or suggestions, meet us at YouTube on our channel and provide some comments there. But as always, we appreciate your time and we will see you next week.

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