How the pandemic has increased the importance of all kinds of wellness for consumers has been much discussed. For the sake of proving the case of “wellness expansion,” let’s just take fitness—one of the sectors hit the hardest by the pandemic. The major fitness researcher IHRSA reported this summer that during the pandemic, 22% of all fitness facilities globally closed permanently–(and they document the market declines for every global region). But in large…
“Inconspicuous Consumption” Is Rising and Driving Growth for the Wellness Industry By Thierry Malleret, economist The joint forces of the pandemic and the climate crisis have accelerated a trend already brewing below the surface for some years: the rise of inconspicuous consumption. Nowadays, conspicuous consumption (i.e., buying expensive stuff for signaling) is often seen as vulgar, at least in the Western world, and is increasingly…
Air Quality Will Become Much Bigger Focus in the Wellness Industry and Investment Space By Thierry Malleret, economist This year, climate catastrophes are here for all to see: dramatic floods in China’s Henan province, parts of Europe and India, and Uganda; unbearably high temperatures in many parts of the world, including North Africa and Turkey; “unimaginable” wildfires in the West of the US, Canada and…
“Aging Well” Is a Pipedream without a Focus on Loneliness and Financial Wellness By Thierry Malleret, economist A new report (“Long and happy lives – The future of wellbeing in an ageing society”) published by the Danish Happiness Research Institute sheds some interesting light on the way in which wellbeing in later life is being threatened by increasing rates of loneliness and mental health problems.…
Is Mental Wellness an Individual or Collective Responsibility? By Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yeung, GWI senior research fellows The notion that mental wellness is about self-care and personal agency does not imply that it is solely an individual pursuit or that it is fully within our own locus of control. Many of the pathways for mental wellness may sound like simple healthy lifestyle habits (e.g.,…
Subjective wellbeing is all about expectations. For years, philosophers, psychologists and some economists have been arguing that a “well-lived,” happy life is one without too many expectations, hence the formula: wellbeing = reality – expectations (attributed to two economists (Baucells and Sarin) who published Engineering Happiness in 2012). Tailoring expectations is perhaps the trick: Many people in Finland and Denmark, consistently ranked as the world’s…
