Laura Abbott

Background

About Laura Abbott

How can communities thrive without relying on economic growth? This is the question I'm attempting to answer by looking at the innovative approaches rural municipalities have taken to keep themselves afloat in Japan's post-growth economy. Specifically, I am interested in how labor and HRM practices in rural Japan support or undermine continuing revitalization. For convenience, I am also building a database that allows researchers to directly compare land use over time to municipality risk of disappearance. Before shifting toward academic research, I spent years helping businesses in Japan and the US through data-driven marketing. I currently work at Focus Cubed and support their mission of enhancing the communication in multicultural meetings through skills-based training. This background informs my research approach: I understand how critical relationships and communication actually are, and have a key insights into the ways in which our modern world has degraded them. Current focus: • Research on labor conditions in rural revitalization initiatives • Training and consulting with the fantastic folks at Focus Cubed 🧑‍ • Building networks and resources for post-growth economic alternatives as a core member of Degrowth Japan I'm interested in connecting with researchers and activists working on degrowth and postgrowth, rural development, labor policy, and alternative economic models! PERSONAL INTERESTS Political economy, reptile husbandry, SF & F fiction, DEI, woodworking. CURRENTLY READING: Revolution at Point Zero, THINGS I WANT TO LEARN ABOUT Futurism, systems thinking, economic ethics, behavioral psychology, neuroscience, political economy. WANT TO CHAT? If you would like to collaborate or talk, please reach out. I’d love to hear from you!