Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet - Hardcover

Jackson, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844078949 ISBN 13: 9781844078943

Publisher: Routledge, 2009

Synopsis

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 this year.

About this title

Review:

'One of the best books of the year' --The Financial Times

'Tim Jackson's book simply resets the agenda for Western society.' --Bernie Bulkin, former Chief Scientist of BP

'Provokes official thought on the unthinkable. No small accomplishment! I hope this gets the serious attention it deserves.'

Watch Tim Jackson's TED Global talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_jackson_s_economic_reality_check.html --Professor Herman Daly, author of Steady-State Economics and recipient of the Honorary Right Livelihood Award (Sweden's alternative to the Nobel Prize)

'Tim Jackson's book simply resets the agenda for Western society.' --Bernie Bulkin, former Chief Scientist of BP

'Provokes official thought on the unthinkable. No small accomplishment! I hope this gets the serious attention it deserves.' --Professor Herman Daly, author of Steady-State Economics and recipient of the Honorary Right Livelihood Award (Sweden's alternative to the Nobel Prize)

About the Author:

Professor Tim Jackson is the Sustainable Development Commission's Economics Commissioner. He is also Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of the newly-awarded ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE). To contact Professor Tim Jackson for press or events relating to his book, Prosperity Without Growth, please contact: gudrun.freese@earthscan.co.uk Tel +44 (0)20 7841 1930

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1844078949
• ISBN 13: 9781844078943
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288