''Prosperity Without Growth'' is a book by author and economist Tim Jackson. It was originally released as a report by the Sustainable Development Commission. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission's nine-year history when it was published in 2009. The report was later that year reworked and published as a book by

Earthscan Earthscan is an English-language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers. History The Earthscan Publications imprint was founded by th ...

. A revised and expanded edition (''Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow'') was published in January 2017.

Description

By arguing that "prosperityin any meaningful sense of the wordtranscends material concerns", the book summarizes the evidence showing that, beyond a certain point, growth does not increase human well-being. ''Prosperity without Growth'' analyses the complex relationships between

economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate o ...

, environmental crises and social recession. It proposes a route to a sustainable economy, and argues for a redefinition of "prosperity" in light of the evidence on what really contributes to people’s well-being. The second edition expands on these ideas and sets out the framework for what he calls "the economy of tomorrow". By attending the nature of enterprise as a form of social organisation, the meaning of work as participation in society, the function of investment as a commitment to the future; and the role of money as a social good, he demonstrates how the economy may be transformed in ways that protect employment, promote and facilitate social investment, reduce inequality and support both ecological and financial stability.

Reviews

The first edition was described by ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' as "one of the most outstanding pieces of

environmental economics Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical or ...

literature in recent years". The sociologist

Anthony Giddens Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (born 18 January 1938) is an English sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern sociologists and is ...

referred to it as "a must-read for anyone concerned with issues of climate change and sustainabilitybold, original and comprehensive." The second edition received endorsements from

Yanis Varoufakis Ioannis "Yanis" Varoufakis ( el, Ιωάννης Γεωργίου "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης, Ioánnis Georgíou "Giánis" Varoufákis, ; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. A former academic, he served as the Gree ...

, who referred to it as "essential reading for those refusing to succumb to a dystopic future".

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

called it a "thoughtful and penetrating critique".

Herman Daly Herman Edward Daly (July 21, 1938 – October 28, 2022) was an American Ecological economics, ecological and Georgism#Georgism and environmental economics, Georgist economist and professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, S ...

praised it with: "It is hard to improve a classic, but Jackson has done it... a clearly written yet scholarly union of moral vision, with solid economics."

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

called it "one of the most important essays of our generation: both visionary and realistic, rooted in careful research and setting out difficult but achievable goals, it gives what we so badly needan alternative to passivity, short-term selfishness and cynicism".

Structure

The second edition of ''Prosperity without growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow'' is organised in eleven chapters: # The limits to

growth Growth may refer to: Biology * Auxology, the study of all aspects of human physical growth * Bacterial growth * Cell growth * Growth hormone, a peptide hormone that stimulates growth * Human development (biology) * Plant growth * Secondary grow ...

Prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notions ...

lost # Redefining

prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notions ...

# The dilemma of growth # The myth of decoupling # The 'iron cage' of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

# Flourishingwithin limits # Foundations for the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

of tomorrow # Towards a '

post-growth Post-growth is stance on economic growth concerning the limits-to-growth dilemma — recognition that, on a planet of finite material resources, extractive economies and populations cannot grow infinitely. The term "post-growth" acknowledges t ...

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

# The progressive State # A lasting

Translations

''Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet'' (2009) has been translated into eighteen languages including Swedish (''Välfärd utan tillväxt: så skapar vi ett hållbart samhälle'', 2011), German (''Wohlstand ohne Wachstum'', 2011), French (''Prospérité sans croissance'', 2010), Greek (''Ευημερία χωρίς ανάπτυξη'', 2012), Spanish (''Prosperidad sin crecimiento'', 2011), Italian (''Prosperità senza crescita'', 2011), Dutch (''Welvaart zonder groei'', 2010) and Chinese (''无增长的繁荣''，2011). The second edition, ''Prosperity without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow'' (2017), has been translated into German, French, Italian, and Danish.

References

External links