As AI accelerates change across economies and workplaces, much of the focus has been on the technology itself. But new research from the McKinsey Health Institute and the World Economic Forum suggests that an equally important—and often overlooked—source of value lies closer to home: our brains.
The concept of the brain economy reflects a shift in how value is understood. Increasingly, economic growth depends not only on physical capital or digital infrastructure but also on brain health and brain skills: our ability to think clearly, adapt to change, collaborate effectively, and make sound judgments in complex environments.
In this video Explainer, McKinsey’s Erica Coe, Jacqueline Brassey, Kana Enomoto, and Lucy Pérez explore what the brain economy is, why pressure on our brains is rising, how AI is raising the bar for human capability, and why investing in brain capital has become a clarion call for leaders, businesses, and societies.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the brain economy—and why does it matter now?
Lucy Pérez: The brain economy is really about one thing. Strong brains power strong economies. And so, increasingly, we’re seeing that value creation comes from what we can imagine, design, connect with our brains versus what we make with our hands.
Kana Enomoto: The brain economy is an emerging concept where resilient and thriving economic systems are fueled by healthy, strong brains. And when we talk about healthy, strong brains, we mean not only brain health, but also mental health, neurological health, our substance use, and our brain skills.
Jacqui Brassey: A brain economy puts the brain at the center of the economy. It designs the economy, society, and organizations with the brain in mind. And that is super important now that we are changing the whole architecture of how we work, with agents, robots, and super AI.
Erica Coe: What we bring through our brain health and brain skills is a valuable asset. It’s valuable at an individual level, an employer level, and a societal level.
Why are our brains under so much pressure right now?
Erica Coe: If we think about the impact that the pandemic had on rates of anxiety and depression and other brain health conditions worldwide, we were already at a point of increased burden. Then you put on top of that the perfect storm that we’re facing right now of demographic, technological, and scientific change. Add to that geopolitical and economic uncertainty, an aging population, and the rising disease burden, and we’re talking about a real strain on our brains across the entire lifespan.
Lucy Pérez: Life is moving faster than our brains are used to. Technology is changing quickly. The world is feeling more unpredictable. And our school systems, work systems, and healthcare just haven’t been able to keep up.
Jacqui Brassey: Our brains are helping us to stay safe. That’s the function of our wonderful, fabulous brains. They do that by helping predict what’s going to happen. When the world becomes unpredictable, it costs us energy, and mistakes are more easily made. That’s taxing for the brain.
Kana Enomoto: We haven’t yet seen the full impact of AI and automation on cognitive load. We don’t yet know what it’s going to do to our learners, our young people, and the next generation of workers.
Lucy Pérez: You’re seeing kids struggling increasingly with mental health issues. There’s burnout at work. And older adults are often feeling isolated. It all adds up. The good news is that when we take care of our brains individually and collectively, we can build communities that can adapt to anything.
Looking for direct answers to other complex questions?
Brain health and brain skills—and why you need both
Erica Coe: Brain capital is the sum of brain health and brain skills. Brain health is not just the absence of disease. It’s also positive brain functioning: our cognitive abilities and ability to function in daily life. That’s the foundation. On top of that, there are skills we can learn starting at a very young age that will strengthen our mental capacity, give us more resilience, and even give us the ability to take on new situations and offset cognitive decline.
Lucy Pérez: Brain health is about so much more than avoiding disease. It’s about thriving. When our brains are strong, we think clearly. We learn more quickly. We manage stress more effectively. And we connect better with others.
Kana Enomoto: Our brain health, cognitive abilities, and brain skills are really interrelated. And their benefit starts to accrue from the earliest days of life. How our brains develop, how we learn to navigate the world and relate to other people—these skills scaffold our long-term health and success. These skills are necessary to establish early in life, and we need to nurture them over the course of our lifetimes.
AI doesn’t replace humans—it raises the bar
Kana Enomoto: In the age of artificial intelligence, you need a concomitant investment in human intelligence. To take advantage of what AI is able to deliver for humanity and for our societies to be safe, cohesive, and thriving, we need humanity to work side by side with the technology, to understand what it’s getting, to be able to drive the direction, and to make ethical judgments of how to use that power and information.
Lucy Pérez: AI could be a huge boost. But it will only be possible to realize its full potential if we also invest in people. The future belongs to teams that can pair great technology with great brain health and human skills.
Erica Coe: AI can boost innovation and help us increase our cognitive loads. But it also has downsides. It can erode attention. You may have heard of the concept of digital dementia. If we let computers do too much for us, it can lead to increased stress and trust issues. There’s a strong need for us to continue to invest in our own brain health, as AI and tools and workflows are changing at such a rapid pace.
Jacqui Brassey: If we don’t build brain skills, we may find ourselves lost in a world that is built by superintelligence, where the human factor is not even in the discussion. And that’s not what we need. Human beings need to remain centered in everything we’re working toward.
The economic case for investing in brain capital
Erica Coe: Just by scaling existing interventions, we could reclaim 260 million years of healthy life and unlock $6.2 trillion in GDP gains by 2050. And that’s just by addressing the existing disease burden around brain health conditions. When you couple that with investing in brain skills and unlocking our collective peak brain performance, the value at stake increases even more.
Kana Enomoto: We could save up to $6.2 trillion in GDP—that’s about 4 percent of global GDP gains—by 2050. And that’s just from the brain health side of things. If you raise the bar by making sure employers are helping people work in a way that optimizes their potential, we could add up to 12 percent to global GDP. This is really a clarion call to all sectors to invest in brain capital.
Lucy Pérez: When individuals are thriving, the ecosystems they’re a part of do better, whether those are workplaces or communities. As a result, economies are stronger too. That’s why investing in brain health and brain skills is one of the highest-rated return investments we can all make, both for our individual well-being and for society and economic growth.
What leaders can do, starting now
Jacqui Brassey: What can leaders do today to help build brain capital for the future? Leaders have the keys in their hands. They can do a lot. Start by role modeling. This is really about intentionally and consciously making the decision to put brain health at the heart of how you run your business. And it starts with taking care of your own brain health and showing others how you do that.
Lucy Pérez: Leaders can make a huge difference starting today. It’s about reducing stigma, expanding support, and making skill building a part of the culture in schools and at work. Skills like empathy, problem-solving, and adaptability help teams navigate change. And we all know change is the only constant. We’re already seeing great examples of leaders investing in brain capital to create not only healthier people and stronger organizations but also real growth.
Erica Coe: There are interventions we can take that will not only strengthen our brain functioning but also help with workforce productivity. These are changes we can make in our daily lives—from understanding the impact sleep and diet have—that can help us show up with peak brain performance and mental acuity on a daily basis. There are also changes that can be made in the workplace that will affect employee productivity. There’s this really interesting ripple effect of changes not only at an individual level but also at a workforce level that then builds up to changes on a societal level.
Our aspiration is for a global brain economy where strengthening human capability is treated with the same urgency as investing in technology.
What the future could look like if we get this right
Lucy Pérez: If we invest in brain capital, we can build societies that are more innovative, more resilient, and human centered. I imagine a world where kids have the support they need to learn and grow, and where adults are in workplaces designed for well-being, where burnout is a thing of the past. I imagine effective collaboration models with technology, and a world where older adults have the resources they need to stay connected and cognitively healthy.
Jacqui Brassey: So let’s dream big. Five years from now, if societies have really put brain health at the core, what does it look like? I can see that picture. Those societies are more peaceful. They are more innovative, creative. People are flourishing and productive. It is possible.
Erica Coe: We are actually much more empowered than people realize. For example, 40 percent of dementia cases are understood to be preventable by taking certain steps. Many people probably think that dementia is just something you are sentenced to; if you develop it, you can’t do anything about it. But that’s not the case. We also know that the biggest driver of burnout is a toxic workplace. And there are specific interventions that have been proven to reduce toxicity in a workplace. So these are things we can actually change. They aren’t just outcomes that we are fated to experience.
Kana Enomoto: Our aspiration is for a global brain economy where strengthening human capability is treated with the same urgency as investing in technology. When we center brain capital, our societies will be able to create healthier lives, stronger economies, and communities that are better prepared for the future.
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