Economics for Rebels Prefiguring the future: How grassroots initiatives shape the structural bases of local economies - Roman Hausmann
Nov 13, 2025
Roman Hausmann, an assistant professor in ecological economics, dives into the world of grassroots initiatives that are reshaping local economies. He shares his personal motivations behind studying community-led projects and emphasizes the importance of structural changes over individual behavior. Through captivating examples like community-supported agriculture, Roman illustrates how these local efforts embody principles of cooperation and care. He also discusses the tensions faced by these initiatives and their vital relationships with public authorities, making a case for community-building in socio-ecological transformation.
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Change Structures, Not Only Behaviors
- Structural change, not just behavior change, is necessary for sustainable economies.
- Social provisioning's three bases (material, social, cultural) shape how economies form and transform.
Social Provisioning Frames System Change
- Social provisioning frames provisioning as political processes shaped by material, social, and cultural bases.
- Addressing all three bases is required to create alternative, sustainable provisioning systems.
Village Shop Enabled Local Farming
- A rural community initiative created a village shop and networks that enabled a farmer to start community-supported agriculture.
- Those local structures provided volunteers, market access, and knowledge the farmer lacked alone.