Basic Literature

Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers and William Behrens (1972). The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books.

This was the Club of Rome’s landmark report, published almost forty-five years ago. The book caused a storm of controversy and has been fiercely debated ever since. The authors used a system dynamics model (World3) to explore changes in population, industrialisation, pollution, food production and resource depletion. They produced three scenarios involving different assumptions about the growth trends for these variables. Two of the scenarios led to ‘overshoot and collapse’. A third scenario resulted in a ‘stabilised world’. The authors always insisted that these scenarios were predictions ‘only in the most limited sense of the word’ and were just indications of the potential behavioural tendencies of the economy.

Bardi, U. (2014). Extracted—How the Quest for Mineral Wealth Is Plundering the Planet. Vermont, USA: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Ugo Bardi delivers a sweeping history of the mining industry, “starting with its humble beginning when our early ancestors started digging underground to find the stones they needed for their tools.” His book traces the links between mineral riches and empires, wars, and civilizations, and shows how mining in its various forms came to be one of the largest global industries. Ugo Bardi illustrates how the gigantic mining machine is starting to reach its limits.

Blewitt, J. and R. Cunningham, Eds. (2014). The Post-Growth Project: how the end of economic growth could bring a fairer, happier society.  London: London Publishing Partnership.

This edited collection of essays from think-tank Green House challenges the assumption that it is bad news when the economy doesn’t grow. The authors demonstrate why our economic system demands ecologically unsustainable growth and the pursuit of more ‘stuff’. They believe that what matters is quality, not quantity – a better life based on having fewer material possessions, less production and less work.

D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. & G. Kallis (2014). Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era. London: Routledge.

“Degrowth”, as understood by the editors of this collection, is a rejection of “the illusion of growth” and a call to repoliticize the public debate dominated by the paradigm of “economism”. It is a project advocating the democratically-led shrinking of production and consumption with the aim of achieving social justice and ecological sustainability. The book provides an overview of the degrowth thinking and offers a comprehensive coverage of its main topics and major challenges. Contributing authors include inter alia David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, Tim Jackson, Serge Latouche, Joan Martinez-Alier, Daniel O’Neil, Juliet Schor and Peter Victor.

Daly, H. (1977/1991). Steady-State Economics. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Former World Bank Economist Herman Daly is one of the world’s leading proponents of a steady-state economy. Throughout his career, Daly has published several books and articles on the subject. First published in 1977, his volume on the steady-state economics caused a sensation because of his radical view that enough is best. Today, his ideas are recognized as the key to sustainable development, and Steady-State Economics is universally acknowledged as one of the leading books on the economics of sustainability.

Dietz, R. and D. O’Neill (2013). Enough is enough—Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources. London: Routledge.

In Enough Is Enough, Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill urge us “to shift our focus from the symptoms to the cause: the pursuit of never-ending economic growth.” While it is widely accepted that we live in a world of finite resources, we still need to change our economic goal “from the madness of more to the wisdom of enough”.

Hickel, J. (2021). Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World. London: Penguin Random House.

If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to slow down, Jason Hickel writes in his latest book. “We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that’s rooted in reciprocity and regeneration. We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that’s fit for the twenty-first century.”

Jackson, T. (2021). Post Growth—Life After Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Capitalism is broken. The relentless pursuit of more has delivered climate catastrophe, social inequality and financial instability—and left us ill prepared for life in a global pandemic. Weaving together philosophical reflection, economic insight and social vision, Post Growth is both a manifesto for system change and an invitation to rekindle a deeper conversation about the nature of the human condition.

Jackson, T. (2009/2017). Prosperity Without Growth—Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow. London: Routledge.

Prosperity without Growth examines both the dynamics of crisis and the true meaning of prosperity. Originally written as a report for the UK Government, the book was subsequently translated into seventeen languages and achieved wide acclaim. Acknowledging at the outset that poorer nations stand in urgent need of economic development, the book nonetheless questions whether ever-rising incomes for the already-rich are an appropriate goal for policy in a world constrained by ecological limits.  It explores the intriguing possibility that humans can flourish – and in particular participate meaningfully and creatively in the life of society – in less materialistic ways.

Jackson, T (2018). The Post-Growth Challenge: Secular Stagnation, Inequality and the Limits to Growth. CUSP Working Paper No 12. Guildford: University of Surrey.

Sluggish recovery in the wake of the financial crisis has revived discussion of a ‘secular stagnation’. These conditions have been blamed for rising inequality and political instability. Based on his report for the UK Ministry of Defence, Tim Jackson contests this view, pointing instead to a steadfast refusal to address the ‘post-growth challenge’.

Jackson, T. and P. Victor (2020). The Transition to a Sustainable Prosperity—A Stock-Flow-Consistent Ecological Macroeconomic Model for Canada. Ecological Economics, 177.

This recent study presents a stock-flow consistent (SFC) macroeconomic simulation model for Canada. Contrary to the widely accepted view, the results suggest that ‘green growth’ (in the Carbon Reduction Scenario) may be slower than ‘brown growth’. More importantly, we show (in the Sustainable Prosperity Scenario) that improved environmental and social outcomes are possible even as the growth rate declines to zero.

Kallis, G. et al (2020). The Case for Degrowth. Cambridge: Polity Press.

In this book, leading lights of the degrowth movement Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa and Federico Demaria draw on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, they advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices.

Kallis, G. (2019). Limits. Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care. Stanford University Press.

This book reclaims, redefines, and makes an impassioned plea for limits—a notion central to environmentalism—clearing them from their association with Malthusianism and the ideology and politics that go along with it. Giorgos Kallis rereads reverend-economist Thomas Robert Malthus and his legacy, separating limits and scarcity, two notions that have long been conflated in both environmental and economic thought.

Randers, J. (2012). 2052—A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years. Vermont, USA: Chelsea Green Publishing.

2052 – A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years is a 2012 publication written by Jørgen Randers, a founding member of the Club of Rome. Drawing on his experience in the sustainability area, with global forecasting tools, and the predictions of more than thirty leading scientists, economists, futurists, and other thinkers, the book is calculating trends in global development. It is a follow-up to The Limits to Growth, the first worldwide report by the Club of Rome. Interested readers should visit the www.2052.info website, a supplement to the book, containing the quantitative basis of his research.

Raworth, K (2017). Doughnut Economics—Seven Ways to Think Like A 21st Century Economist. Random House Business.

Kate Raworth argues that last-century’s economic theories will not equip us for the 21st century challenge. The Doughnut is a playfully serious approach to framing that challenge. Conceptualised as a convening space for debate, it is based on the planetary boundaries framework, adding to it the demands of social justice — and so bringing social and environmental concerns together.

Rockström, J. et al (2009). Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14(2): 32.

A large cross-disciplinary team led by Dr Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Centre identified a set of nine processes that regulate the land, ocean and atmosphere. For each process they identified a boundary beyond which humans would cause unacceptable environmental change – the world’s ‘critical biophysical boundaries’.

Pasqualino, R. and A. Jones (2020). Resources, Financial Risk and the Dynamics of Growth: Systems and Global Society.

Building on the World3-03 Limits to Growth model, Roberto Pasqualino and Aled Jones link the financial system with the energy, agriculture and climate systems through the real economy, by means of feedback loops, time lags and non-linear rationally bounded decision making. Prices and their interaction with growth, inflation and interest rates are assumed to be the main driver of economic failure while reaching planetary limits.

Salleh, A. (Ed.) (2009). Eco-Sufficiency & Global Justice: women write political ecology. London: Pluto Press and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

This book introduces theoretical concepts for talking about humanity-nature links and is considered to be a challenging read for activists and for students of political economy, environmental ethics, global studies, sociology, women’s studies, and critical geography.

Schmelzer, M. et al (2022). The Future Is Degrowth. A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism. London: Verso Books.

Economic growth isn’t working, and it cannot be made to work. Offering a counter-history of how economic growth emerged in the context of colonialism, fossil-fueled industrialization, and capitalist modernity, Matthias Schmelzer, Aaron Vansintjan, and Andrea Vetter argue that the ideology of growth conceals the rising inequalities and ecological destructions associated with capitalism, and points to desirable alternatives to it.

Victor, P. (2008/2019). Managing Without Growth. Slower by Design, Not Disaster. Edward Elgar.

Fourteen years after the publication of the first edition of this influential book, the evidence is even stronger that human economies are overwhelming the regenerative capacity of the planet. In Managing Without Growth Peter Victor explains why long-term economic growth is infeasible, and why, especially in advanced economies, it is also undesirable. Simulations based on real data show that managing without growth is a better alternative.

Please note that the reading list above is a work in progress. You are invited to submit further suggestions in the comments section below or join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook. Also have a look at the post-growth research from CUSP.