Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist

Ottimo libro che mostra come non solo è possibile ma anche conveniente cambiare sistema economico

Que haurien de llegir tots els governants del món.

At its worst, economics is a highly mathematical undertaking that is completely useless for understanding anything about the real world. Rather than explain inflation or international trade, you get utility functions, aggregate supply and demand curves that were supposed to wind up in some incomprehensible equilibrium, so obscure and bound up in such highly abstract assumptions that only a mathematician could understand it all and that utterly lacked any real-world relevance.For all of these reasons, I found Doughnut Economics both fascinating and useful. Raworth challenges academic "economic science" and offers a number of new notions that I hope will fundamentally re-shape the field. In addition, the book is lucidly written, which stands in stark contrast to the abstruse crap that so many economists churn out, where they twist logic into bizarre configurations and examples. It is practical, based on common sense notions, and relatively easy to understand. Raworth offers 7 "ways to think".First, we need to change the goal from one of unending "growth" of GDP to an equilibrium state inside the doughnut shape: in the hole, social needs are neglected; outside the edge, ecological concerns are violated. The doughnut encompasses a number of factors in dynamic balance, including social equity, work and income, global warming, resource depletion, etc.Second, instead of a hermetically sealed engine that flows between business and households in an unending circle, which neglects the bigger picture, we need to view the economy as embedded in both an evolving society and the larger ecosystem.Third, we must concentrate not on a single, abstract, selfish individual maximizing his/her well being in consumption of goods, but on socially adaptive communities of individuals who must work together for many other intangible values.Fourth, we need to integrate a systems approach, replacing the artificial calculation of an abstract equilibrium state, i.e. feedback loops of factors offer a more realistic image and concept of the economy than the simple assignment of an optimal overall price. Needs change and act upon each other dynamically, there is no "Pareto optimality".Fifth, the economic system should be designed to distribute resources fairly; inequality, in her view, is a failure of the system, not its inevitable outcome. This introduces a strong, legitimate role for public policy and activist government rather than some assumption that the "market" will achieve fairness or efficiency.Sixth, taking sustainability into account, the system can be set up to regenerate itself rather than simply use natural resources as inputs.Seventh, we have to give up the notion that GDP growth is the most important measure of how well the economy functions. Not only is perpetual growth a physical impossibility - indeed we are reaching the limits of capitalist growth rates at the levels we knew from 1870 to 1970, the golden age - but it diverts attention from more pressing tasks.Raworth gets into lots of technical detail. I could not do justice to her model in this description, indeed I will have to go back and re-read the book a few more times before I fully grasp it myself. Whatever, this is a marvelously stimulating intellectual journey that is also of vital importance.I do have a criticism of the tone of the book. Some of it reads like a TED talk, a formula that bores me to tears. The examples given are also too brief for my taste and need to be expanded upon in much great detail. Finally, there is a bit of zaniness in it that bothered me on occasion. For example, I would rather call it a torus than a doughnut, as I believe the associations with that are more serious. Perhaps it's nitpicking.Recommended with enthusiasm.

This compelling and readable book covers a lot of ground. It examines the purpose of our economic system, a necessary first step for any rethink. It decisively critiques mainstream economic analysis, including the assumptions and stereotypes which underpin neoclassical theory. And it sets out an agenda for a new "doughnut" economics, one which simultaneously respects planetary boundaries and caters for social needs.While much of the criticism is well established and covered elsewhere, new material includes the role of the nascent "collaborative commons", exemplified by the open source software and open knowledge movements.Given the need for a complex systems perspective by this re-envisioning of economics, a few pages on the role of computer simulation would have been warranted. Moreover, these new models will be no less caricatures of the real world than the present set of orthodox economics models, just better oriented to the issues we indeed face.In conclusion, an upbeat book that deserves to be widely read by anyone concerned about the transition to ecological and social sustainability, clearly the preeminent challenge of our time.

「成長」前提とした政治・経済運営は、「地球の環境容量」の有限性から間違いなく破綻を来す。本書は、「人間生活の最低基準」を下限〔ドーナツの内周〕、そして、「生態系を含む地球環境容量の限界」を上限〔ドーナツの外周〕とする経済運営をする画期的な提案をしている。1972年に発表された「Limit to Growth」（写真参照）と共にSDGsを達成する原点として高く評価する。全ての政治家、経済人をはじめ全員が必読の書であると考える。