Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet
Tim Jackson
Routledge; 1 edition (October 16, 2009)
Is more economic growth the solution? Will it deliver prosperity and well-being for a global population projected to reach nine billion? In this explosive book, Tim Jackson, a top sustainability adviser to the UK government, makes a compelling case against continued economic growth in developed nations.
No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. More urgently, it is now clear that the ecosystems that sustain our economies are collapsing under the impacts of rising consumption. Unless we can radically lower the environmental impact of economic activity – and there is no evidence to suggest that we can – we will have to devise a path to prosperity that does not rely on continued growth.
Economic heresy? Or an opportunity to improve the sources of well-being, creativity and lasting prosperity that lie outside the realm of the market? Tim Jackson provides a credible vision of how human society can flourish within the ecological limits of a finite planet. Fulfilling this vision is simply the most urgent task of our times.
This book is a substantially revised and updated version of Jackson’s controversial study for the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the UK Government. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission’s nine year history when it was launched earlier in 2009.
Ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to rainforest protection
This paperback edition includes a new foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales
Follow this link to read a Guardian Book Review of “Prosperity Without Growth” by Jeremy Leggett, author of Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air and the Global Energy Crisis.
Praise for “Prosperity without Growth”
‘In the teeth of the economic crisis, Jackson has written the most important book that could possibly be written now.’ - James Gustave Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World
‘Jackson’s cutting edge research has already begun to re-define the debate about how to achieve a future of human and planetary well-being. A must-read.’ - Juliet Schor, author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, and Professor of Sociology, Boston College
‘Tim Jackson’s book is a powerful intellectual challenge to an economic orthodoxy out of touch with the real world of physical limits, global warming and peaking oil reserves. It is refreshingly rigorous, honest and hopeful.‘ - Ann Pettifor, Fellow of the New Economics Foundation and co-author of the Green New Deal
‘On a planet with finite resources, perpetual growth is not only impossible, but it is endangering the survival of present and future generations. I urge everyone to read Tim Jackson’s brilliant and visionary book. He offers a detailed critique of the existing economic paradigm, and makes compelling suggestions for a shared and lasting prosperity.’ -Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation; Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador; Member of the Executive Director’s Leadership Council, Amnesty International, USA; Trustee, Amazon Charitable Trust
‘In a world of massive inequality and limited resources, Tim Jackson asks the fundamental questions of what prosperity really is and how we can invest not just in material goods but in each other. This is an outstandingly intelligent and creative contribution to debate.’ - The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
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