Rethinking Redistribution (1/3): Getting Left Behind

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This AI-assisted paper proposes a transformative economic model for the UK, integrating GDP (Gross Domestic Product) with QALY (Quality-Adjusted Life Years) to reframe wealth creation around harm reduction, wellbeing, and social resilience. This shift would directly link economic performance to human outcomes, redistribute investment through regional banks, and accelerate sustainable growth through a 10-point national strategy.

Current Challenge:

• The UK faces high inequality, regional stagnation, and growing health disparities.
• GDP growth alone no longer captures the public value of economic policy.

Proposed Solution:

• Introduce a GDP-QALY framework that links economic success with measurable improvements in health and well-being.
• Redistribute wealth via mandatory pension bond investment into regional public banks that fund local QALY-generating initiatives.

 

TECHNOCRATIC MECHANISMS

1. QALY-Indexed Public Investment Criteria

• Treasury Green Book reform to include QALY per £1bn as a core appraisal metric.
• Prioritise infrastructure, housing, and transport projects with highest health/wellbeing return.

2. QALY-Based Fiscal Transfers

• Adjust council and devolved authority budgets based on local improvements in healthy life expectancy, mental health, and chronic illness.

3. QALY-Linked Sovereign and Municipal Bonds

• Create investment instruments tied to QALY outcomes (e.g. youth wellbeing, elderly care, clean air).

4. QALY-Responsive Corporate Incentives

• Tax reliefs for businesses that demonstrate measurable well-being impact.

5. Wellbeing-Weighted Procurement and Tax Reform

• Prioritise social value in public contracts.
• Introduce VAT and NI adjustments based on QALY impact of goods/services.

6. Regional Pension Investment in Public Banks

• Replace some taxation with mandatory long-term investment in regional pension bonds funding local QALY-positive ventures.

 

 

SUPERCHARGING GROWTH

1. Establish a National Wellbeing Investment Bank: Co-invest in QALY-focused projects in housing, care, education, and health tech.

2. Education as a Human Capital Accelerator: Free lifelong learning tied to local employment and wellbeing metrics.

3. Green QALY Deal: Align decarbonisation with QALY creation: retrofits, active transport, green space.

4. Anchor Institutions as Local Growth Engines: NHS, universities, councils to direct local procurement and employment towards health-positive SMEs.

5. Tax Reform for Preventative Value: Incentivise upstream prevention and penalise QALY-negative market sectors.

6. Innovation Strategy for Public Good: Direct R&D toward dementia, loneliness, care innovation, and workplace wellbeing.

7. Devolve QALY Sovereignty: Allow regions to reinvest savings from reduced NHS and welfare burdens.

8. Monetise Prevention: Enable councils and charities to earn returns from harm reduction.

9. Universal Basic Services (UBS): Expand housing, transport, digital access, and mental health supports.

10. International Leadership on QALY Economics: Brand the UK as a global hub for wellbeing-based finance and policy.

 

CONCLUSIONS

The UK's future prosperity depends on redefining growth as both economic and human. By linking GDP to QALY outcomes, Britain can move from inequality-driven stagnation to a regenerative, health-centred economy. This framework empowers all levels of government, aligns public and private sectors with human flourishing, and places wellbeing at the heart of a 21st-century growth model.

 

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

(Can be conceptualised as an infographic with the following flow)

a) GDP-QALY Link Established

b) Treasury + Regional Banks Align Spending

c) Local Authorities Fund Health-Positive Projects

d) Businesses Become Incentivised for Social Value

e) Citizens See Real Returns in Life Quality

f) Economic Growth + QALY Increase Reported Quarterly

g) Global Brand for Inclusive Regenerative Growth