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GDP growth – the Emperor has no clothes
Review of Moral Maze: Is Growth a False God? Is Growth a False God? is an episode of the Radio 4 programme Moral Maze broadcast on 22nd March 2023. Presented by Michael Buerk, the programme has an unusual format where four semi-regular panelists question and elicit testimony from several invited guests representing opposite sides of…
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Prosperity Without Growth – Foundation for the Economy of Tomorrow
Jackson, T. (2016). Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. This is the second edition of a book first published in 2009 which was itself a reworked version of a report published earlier that year for the UK Sustainable Development Commission (still available here). In the prologue to the second edition, Jackson describes…
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Starting the week with the most important conversation
Review of Start the week: Democratic capitalism – marriage on the rocks Democratic capitalism – marriage on the rocks is an episode of the Radio 4 Start the Week programme broadcast on 27th February 2023. The programme was presented by Tom Sutcliffe who expertly marshalled contributions from Bernie Sanders, Kate Raworth and Martin Wolf. The…
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Analysis or a PR exercise for economic globalisation?
Review of Analysis: The death of globalisation? The death of globalisation? is an episode of the Radio 4 Analysis programme broadcast on 27th February 2023. The presenter was Ian Goldin and there were contributions from Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minouche Shafik, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Rana Foroohar and Kishore Mahbubani. Early on in this program, globalisation was defined thus: “globalisation is about the movement of things,…
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The future is Degrowth – A Guide to World beyond Capitalism
Schmelzer, M., Vetter. A. and Vansintjan, A. (2022). The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism. United Kingdom: Verso. I’ve carefully read the The Future is Degrowth a couple of times and also skimmed it in preparation for this review, yet still feel I would benefit from reading it again – such is the density with which…
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Less is More – How Degrowth Will Save the World
Hickel, J. (2020). Less is more: How degrowth will save the world. Random House Hickel is a masterful storyteller – this is probably the nearest thing you’ll find to a page turner in the economic literature! The introduction would stand on its own as a powerful essay on the history of capitalism and it’s bedfellow growthism,…
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Abundant Energy – a thought experiment that forgot a key variable
Review of Inside Science: Abundant energy Abundant energy – an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science programme – is a thought experiment imagining a world where energy is abundant, cheap and highly available. I listened to it on 9th February 2023. The programme was presented by Inside Science regular Gaia Vince with contributions from…
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A rare challenge to the hegemony of growth on Radio 4
Review of Analysis: Economic Growth – can we ever have enough? Economic Growth – can we ever have enough? is an episode of the Radio 4 Analysis programme first broadcast on 12th November 2022. The received wisdom that maximising economic growth should be at the heart of economic and social policy is rarely challenged in…
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Understand The Economy – much to like but seriously flawed
Review of Understand: The Economy series 1, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Understand: The Economy is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast in 2022/23. Episodes 1-10 were presented by Tim Harford and 11-15 by Felicity Hannah. I enjoyed the series and thought all episodes to be well presented, informative and engaging – there…
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Doughnut Economics – Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
Raworth, K. (2018). Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-century Economist. India: Random House Business Books. I wish I’d read it years ago. To my old way of thinking, all economists are narrow-mindedly focused on the accumulation of financial wealth and largely careless of the consequences of that pursuit on society and the ecology of the planet. In…
