Sustainxiety Institute
Understanding Humanity Through Structural Reality Beneath the Surface
A framework to decode how individuals, societies, economies, and systems evolve across time, past, present and the future.
What is ETH?
The Economic Theory of Humanity is a structured framework for understanding how human societies organize, evolve, and transition across different coordination systems.
It recognizes that humanity operates through underlying forces—Hunger, Fear, Sustainxiety, and Alpha—that shape behavior across all economic terrains, from communal societies to the emerging data-driven world.
ETH provides a way to observe, interpret, and anticipate these shifts—not through prediction, but through structured understanding of the dynamics that drive change.
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About Us
Founder & Principal Theorist
David Rajan
David Rajan is an investment professional and independent thinker focused on understanding the structural forces shaping economies, societies, and human behavior.
He currently serves as Managing Director at Liwa Capital Advisors, Abu Dhabi, where he is involved in investment selection, portfolio construction, and navigating complex global market environments. His role at Liwa Capital Advisors is independent of his theoretical and research work.
Over a career spanning more than two decades, including senior roles at leading sovereign investment institutions such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), he has developed deep expertise in institutional investing and global markets.
His work, however, extends beyond investing.
David is the originator of the Economic Theory of Humanity (ETH)—a structural framework that explains how human behavior, economic systems, and societal evolution are driven by four enduring forces: Hunger, Fear, Sustainxiety, and Alpha. Through this lens, he examines transitions across different economic terrains—from communal and social systems to market-based and emerging data-driven coordination systems.
He has also introduced key concepts such as:
- Sustainxiety — the persistent human pressure to secure the future in an uncertain world
- Data Economy — a system where data becomes the primary driver of value creation and coordination
- Aification — the integration of AI into human systems, reshaping work, decision-making, and societal structures
Through his books and the work of the Sustainxiety Institute, David focuses on making these structural insights accessible and actionable across domains including investments, geopolitics, governance, education, and the future of work.
His writing aims to bridge theory and practice—helping individuals and institutions better understand the changing system they operate within, and prepare for what lies ahead.
A structured approach to understanding a changing world.