Small Is Beautiful (A Study of Economics as If People Mattered) - E.F. Schumacher

If there's one book you should read to understand why those anti-capitalist demonstrators are out there shaking up Genoa, it's not a new book but E.F. Schumacher's classic, 'Small is Beautiful: a Study of Econcomics as if People Mattered'. Schumacher was born in Germany but came to England in 1930 as a Rhodes Scholar, studying economics at New College, Oxford. He found the purely academic life too cloistered, though, and ended up as Economic Adviser ...
...1950. Latterly his views on issues of rural development were sought by a number of overseas governments.

First published in Britain in 1973, 'Small is Beautiful had a profound effect on the environmental consciousness which later became the Green Movement. So what is 'Small is Beautiful' about? One of the first things that is immediately apparent from the contents page that Schumacher's version of economics is as likely to be influenced ... more

If there's one book you should read to understand why those anti-capitalist demonstrators are out there shaking up Genoa, it's not a new book but E.F. Schumacher's classic, 'Small is Beautiful: a Study of Econcomics as if People Mattered'. Schumacher was born in Germany but came to England in 1930 as a Rhodes Scholar, studying economics at New College, Oxford. He found the purely academic life too cloistered, though, and ended up as Economic Adviser to the British Control Commission in Germany from 1946 to 1950. Latterly his views on issues of rural development were sought by a number of overseas governments.

First published in Britain in 1973, 'Small is Beautiful had a profound effect on the environmental consciousness which later became the Green Movement. So what is 'Small is Beautiful' about? One of the first things that is immediately apparent from the contents page that Schumacher's version of economics is as likely to be influenced by Buddhism or the Sermon on the Mount, as it is Keynes. Schumacher's language can seem rather dated - 'pollution' and not 'ecological crisis' and so on, but remember this book is as 70's as Platform shoes and Glam Rock! Granted, too, that some of Schumacher's enthusiasm for 'nationalisation' seem rather out of place in the current political climate. But, the core of Schumacher's urgent message is more timely than ever. Our pursuit of profit and progress promotes giant organisations and increased specialisation but at a terrible cost, including economic scarcity, ecological devastation and inhumane conditions of work. Schumacher's thesis is simple: firstly, capitalism has an insatiable appetite for growth and secondy, this growth is not sustainable because resources are not limitless:

"... greed and envy demand continuous and limitless economic growth of a material kind, without proper regard for conservation, and this type of growth cannot possibly fit into a finite environment." ('Small is Beautiful, p220, 1989 Abacus edition).

If Schumacher's wonderful and challenging book has a weakness it is that his solutions: communal ownership, smaller working units and regional workplaces using local labour and resources, need more unpacking than he has time for. The seemingly endless debate stimulated by this book, though, seems well on the way to filling in the gaps.
 

...less