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Reclaiming Economics for Future Generations
Ambler, L., Earle, J., Scott, N. (2022). Reclaiming Economics for Future Generations. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. This is a book written predominately by young economists who refuse to submit meekly to the received wisdom of mainstream (neoclassical) economics which dominates the academic and cultural framing of economics in the world today. They argue that neoclassical economics is largely responsible for the environmental, social…
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Wild Britain – a challenging thought experiment
Review of Inside Science: Wild Britain Wild Britain is an episode of the Radio 4 programme Inside Science which was broadcast on May 5th 2023. The programme was presented by Gaia Vince and her panelists were Richard Benwell, Meredith Whitten, Hugo Tagholm and George Monbiot. At the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), the UK…
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Post Growth – Life after Capitalism
Jackson, T. (2021). Post Growth: Life After Capitalism. United Kingdom: Wiley. Whilst the degrowth/post-growth literature, by definition, confronts the hegemony of growthism, it sometimes fights shy of directly challenging capitalism. But as the subtitle of Tim Jackson’s latest book makes clear, Post Growth does not suffer from any such coyness. In the second chapter- Who Killed Capitalism? – Jackson asserts…
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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…
