NEEC compares economic systems against one fixed set of normative criteria, with the evidence behind every mark.
NEEC stands for Normative Economic Evaluation Criteria. Normative means the criteria say what an economy ought to achieve: security from poverty, freedom to choose, resilience in a crisis, fairness across groups and generations, and a credible way to get there. Each of the 23 systems is scored 1, 0.5 or 0 on each of the 29 criteria. A 0 is a structural failure, and failures, not totals, decide a system's tier.
| Material Security | Human Autonomy | System Resilience | Ethical Integrity | Implementation Viability | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System | C1.1 Poverty Elimination Capacity | C1.2a Wealth Building for Resilience | C1.2b Prevention of Exploitative Accumulation | C1.3 Housing Security | C1.4 Automation Resilience | C1.5 Universal Wealth Access | C2.1 Freedom from Coercion | C2.2 Labor Non-Necessity | C2.3 Creative Development Opportunities | C2.4 Democratic Participation | C2.5 Exit Rights and Mobility | C2.6 Civil Liberties and Rule of Law | C3.1 Crisis Response Capacity | C3.2 Inflation Control Mechanisms | C3.3 Multi-Failure Resistance | C3.4 Epistemic Adaptability | C3.5 Failure-Mode Transparency | C3.6 Productive and Innovative Capacity | C4.1 Intergenerational Justice | C4.2 Ecological Compliance | C4.3 Group Equity | C4.4 Power Distribution | C4.5 Exploitation Elimination | C4.6 Harm Internalization | C5.1 Proven Component Foundation | C5.2 Staged Transition Pathways | C5.3 Partial and Parallel Deployability | C5.4 Political Coalition Potential | C5.5 Cultural Adaptability | Total | Failures |
| Potentially Adequate0 to 2 structural failures | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 17.5 | 0 |
| Participatory Economics | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 17.0 | 0 |
| Integral | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 16.0 | 2 |
| Degrowth Economics | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 15.5 | 1 |
| Nordic Social Democracy | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 15.5 | 0 |
| Market Socialism | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 15.0 | 1 |
| Sovereign Wealth Fund Statism | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 15.0 | 2 |
| Georgism / LVT | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 14.0 | 2 |
| Partially Adequate3 to 5 structural failures | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ostrom Commons | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 15.0 | 3 |
| Islamic Finance | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 14.0 | 3 |
| Mutual Credit / LETS | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 1.0, pass | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 14.0 | 3 |
| State Capitalism / Singapore | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 14.0 | 3 |
| Universal Basic Income | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 13.5 | 5 |
| Universal Basic Services | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 13.0 | 4 |
| MMT + Job Guarantee | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 12.5 | 4 |
| Structurally Inadequate6 or more structural failures | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status Quo Market Capitalism | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 12.5 | 7 |
| State Capitalism / China | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 11.5 | 8 |
| Fully Automated Luxury Communism | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 11.0 | 9 |
| Stakeholder Capitalism | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 11.0 | 7 |
| State Capitalism / Qatar | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 10.0 | 10 |
| Doughnut Economics | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 9.5 | 10 |
| Libertarian Minarchism | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 9.5 | 11 |
| Centrally Planned Socialism | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 1.0, pass | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.0, structural failure | 0.5, partial | 7.0 | 16 |
- 1.0, pass
- 0.5, partial
- 0.0, structural failure
Select a mark, or move through the field with the arrow keys, to see the criterion and a link to the evidence.
Where to start
- Compare the systems
- From Nordic social democracy to Georgism and Ostrom's commons: what kind of system each is, and the evidence for its scores.
- Read the criteria
- Each threshold, what it measures, and how a 1, a 0.5 and a 0 are told apart.
- Set your own bar
- Where a threshold is a judgment call, move it and see which systems cross.
- Check it with an AI
- A ready-made prompt that tells any AI system how to score, and how to report what it finds.
- Disagree, or add evidence
- Every score is open to challenge, and every report is reproduced and answered on the record.
Findings
- 23 systems on 29 criteria: 8 Potentially Adequate, 7 Partially Adequate, 8 Structurally Inadequate. Tiers depend only on the number of structural failures, so they do not move with the weights.
- Among the configured national economies, existing or historical, the highest total is Nordic Social Democracy's: 15.5 of 29 (53%), with 0 structural failures, Potentially Adequate.
- A higher total can sit in a lower tier: Ostrom Commons (15.0, 3 failures) outscores Georgism / LVT (14.0, 2 failures) and sits one tier lower.
- No system scores 1.0 on 11 of the 29 criteria: C1.1, C1.4, C2.1, C2.3, C2.4, C2.6, C3.1, C3.5, C4.2, C4.3, C4.6.
- The most often failed criterion is C1.5 Universal Wealth Access and C2.2 Labor Non-Necessity: 11 of 23 systems score 0.0 on it.
- 14 systems are not dominated: no other system scores at least as high on every criterion and higher on one. CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH, Participatory Economics, Nordic Social Democracy, Sovereign Wealth Fund Statism, Ostrom Commons, Islamic Finance, Mutual Credit / LETS, State Capitalism / Singapore, Universal Basic Income, Status Quo Market Capitalism, State Capitalism / China, Fully Automated Luxury Communism, State Capitalism / Qatar, Centrally Planned Socialism.
The findings as charts: totals and failures, domain profiles, and trade-offs.
Totals use equal weights and are one reading of the evidence, not a measurement. Each system's page registers the close calls a reasonable scorer could set differently, and the Thresholds page shows how the ranking moves when you weigh the domains differently.
Who made this
NEEC is written by Duke Johnson, an independent researcher, and Claude (Anthropic). Duke Johnson designed CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH (opens the Research Hub in a new tab), one of the scored systems; Claude does the scoring and the engineering. On the published totals it ranks 1 of 23, at 17.5 of 29, with 0 structural failures. The published protocol, the evidence behind each score, the registers of close calls and blind replication by scorers outside the project exist so that any score can be checked and contested. The full disclosure.
Documents and data
- The latest version 1 texts, Paper v1.4 and Report v1.6. Version 2.0 of both follows the scores.
- Version 1 on the original site, with its Paper and Report.
- Data: the criteria and the score vectors as JSON, the scores as CSV, and everything on this site in one file.
- The repository, with the script behind every figure, and how to cite NEEC. Licence: CC BY 4.0.