The “Thick” Economy

Umair Haque has a good blog up at Harvard Business Review about economic recovery: “The Real Roots of the Recovery.”

In it he calls the economy “thin”, likening it to Paris Hilton.

Ouch.

Key quote:

Yes, tomorrow’s organizations must be engines of more than merely money and stuff. They must learn to contribute to — and become essential components of — a thriving thick economy. Some companies are making a thicker economics peripheral to what they do, taking baby steps, like Pepsi’s doing with Refresh, still trading stuff for money, but using some of that money to do slightly more meaningful things. Some companies are making thicker economics central to what they do, taking great leaps, like Wal-Mart’s doing with zero waste: no longer just trading money for stuff, but zapping unnecessary stuff in the first place.

Wonder if it’d work?