Economist Kate Raworth (2017) says that “you can't walk away from economics because it frames the world we inhabit”, but decided we need to “flip it on its head”: “What if we started economics with humanity's goals for the 21st century, and then asked what economic mindset would give us even half a chance of achieving them?” She develops the doughnut concept of boundaries, in which the hole in the middle is where people's needs are not met and the boundary beyond the edge of the doughnut is where we risk putting too much pressure on the world's resources. Drawing on numerous strands of economics, such as “complexity, ecological, feminist, behavioural and institutional eco-nomics”, her aim is to find how to meet humanity's needs. But she says it will require a fundamental transformation of the “mainstream economic mindset”, from universities to parliaments.

So far, this book has related how politicians describe their current economic mindsets. Most recount a chronological path, starting in their late teens or early twenties, of becoming interested in politics, becoming aware of their own values and predispositions and how this process affected their thinking about the economy.