Let’s be less productive—Restoring the value of care | Opinion piece for The New York Times
The challenges facing the world and the UK today are unprecedented. A global health emergency, a global climate crisis, and a catastrophic loss of biodiversity are undermining the basis for future prosperity in the UK and across the world. This article, written for The New York Times in 2012, speaks to the theme of restoring the value of decent work to its rightful place at the heart of society.
Video | Divestment: Economic, Historical, and Moral Perspectives
On 12 February this year, a number of student groups within Cambridge University's Christ's College hosted a panel with alumni of Christ's to share their expertise on various aspects of the divestment issue, addressing i.a. economic, historical, and moral perspectives for divestment. Chaired by Alyssa Gilbert, panellists include Tim Jackson, Fiona Harvey and Rowan Williams.
Energy and Productivity—A Review of the Literature | Paper
The UK is experiencing a period of low productivity growth. Although exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2008, the underlying trend is longer and more persistent. This report aims to expand conventional understandings of productivity by exploring the literatures which relate productivity to the availability, production and use of energy in the economy.
Wellbeing and Productivity: A Review of the Literature | Paper
This report reviews the relationships between the different aspects of wellbeing, productivity, and productivity growth. It is the culmination of a desk-based evidence review, survey, and a mapping workshop held with experts from backgrounds including psychology, sociology, economics, and design. The focus is on wellbeing and labour productivity.
Towards a Wellbeing Economy | EESC calls for a new vision of prosperity
The European Economic and Social Committee overwhelmingly adopted an ‘own-initiative opinion’ on the sustainable and inclusive ‘wellbeing economy’ that Europe needs. A call on the EU 'for a new vision of prosperity', developed in close collaboration with CUSP director Tim Jackson as Expert to the Rapporteur.
Unravelling the claims for (and against) green growth | Science Article by Tim Jackson and Peter Victor
It is clear that the larger the economy becomes, the more difficult it is to decouple that growth from its material impacts... This isn't to suggest that decoupling itself is either unnecessary or impossible. On the contrary, decoupling well-being from material throughput is vital if societies are to deliver a more sustainable prosperity—for people and for the planet. (This article is posted on the Science website).
LowGrow SFC—A stock-flow-consistent ecological macroeconomic model for Canada | Paper
This working paper by Tim Jackson and Peter Victor presents a stock-flow consistent (SFC) simulation model of a national economy, calibrated on the basis of Canadian data. LowGrow SFC describes the evolution of the Canadian economy in terms of six financial sectors. Contrary to the accepted wisdom, the results indicate the feasibility of improved environmental and social outcomes, even as the growth rate declines to zero.
The storied state of economics: Review of Robert Shiller’s Narrative Economics | By Tim Jackson
“Economists are tellers of stories and makers of poems,” wrote the economic historian Deidre McCloskey in 1990. It’s a curious observation for a profession that prides itself on hard-nosed, quantitative analysis and strives continually for predictive power. The Nobel-prizewinning economist Robert Shiller goes even further. His new book probes how social behaviour trumps statistics in determining the fate of economies—Tim Jackson weighs it up.
Talking Development | CONCORD Europe Podcast w/ Tim Jackson
“Talking Development” podcasts are a series of podcasts developed by CONCORD Europe aiming at making development topics understandable and accessible to all. Here, Tim is discussing the politics and economics of the postgrowth challenge with Tanya Cox, Director of CONCORD, the European NGO confederation for relief and development.
“I believed I understood the land” | Tim Jackson reading poem by Adam Horovitz
In July 2019, the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission with CUSP director Tim Jackson as Commissioner and Chair of the Research Advisory Group have published their final report, calling for radical 10-year plan to transition to sustainable food system with more government support for healthy produce. The event opened with Tim's reading of a poem by Adam Horovitz, from the collection 'The Soil Never Sleeps'.
Engagement in a new climate | Editorial for the Environmental Scientist
Environmental engagement is on television screens, in the streets and at your local book group; everyone's doing it. Whether you're engrossed in the latest nature documentary or watching the news in the evening, environmental communicators are everywhere and everyone.—This edition of Environmental Scientist focuses on the new radicalism in environmental engagement; with an Editorial by Tim Jackson.
2050 is too late—we must drastically cut emissions much sooner
At current rates of reduction, the UK fair carbon budget will be spent in just four years' time, Tim Jackson writes in his blog for The Conversation. "Every year that progress is delayed, the challenge only gets bigger", he argues, we don't only need a credible strategy on zero carbon targets, but also emission pathways, with a defined level of negative emission technologies.
Measuring Prosperity—Navigating the Options | Paper
Since its development in the 1930s, GDP has been the most widely used measure of the health and progress of an economy, being adopted as the principal policy objective of countless national and international bodies across the world. Its many shortcomings as a measure of progress are well documented, and the alternative indicators of progress developed in response to these shortcomings have been diverse and numerous. This paper synthesises the literature, highlighting the importance of context and purpose in determining what makes a ‘good’ indicator.
“All Models are Wrong”—The challenge of modelling ‘deep decarbonisation | Paper
This briefing paper summarises the dilemma associated with using mainstream, macroeconomic models to guide disruptive, transformative change such as those that might occur under ‘deep decarbonisation’: a rapid transition to a net-zero carbon economy. Some form of macro-economic modelling framework is essential to enable policy-makers to exercise short- and long-term fiscal responsibility. Incremental models based on historical behaviour, however, are a poor guide to outcomes under circumstances of disruptive change.
Living the Good Life on Instagram —An exploration of lay understandings of what it means to live well | Paper
While the consumerist approach to what living well can mean permeates traditional media, the extent to which it appears in people’s own depictions of the good life is unclear. Using multimodal discourse analysis, this article uses a sample of posts tagged #goodlife and variants collected on Instagram to explore which understandings of the good life can be found on the platform, and what their wider implications in the consumer society are.
A new kind of Growth for Europe? | Tim Jackson at the 2019 Brussels Economic Forum
Tim Jackson in fierce debate with high-profile panel on prospects in the EU for reconciling economic growth with social cohesion, fairness and sustainability. Moderated by Viktoria Dendrinou (Bloomberg), co-discussants include Valdis Dombrovskis (Vice-President, European Commission), Nadia Calviño (Minister of Economy and Business, Spain), Gita Gopinath (Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund) and Riccardo Illy (Chairman, Gruppo Illy).
‘Whatever it takes’—the new economics of system change
‘System change, not climate change’ is the mantra for a new politically-charged ecological activism. In the wake of two key economic conferences, Tim Jackson reflects on what this means for the financial and political stability of Europe.—"It matters not a jot that you do ‘whatever it takes’ to save the banks, if you fail to do whatever it takes to save the climate."
Green, prosperous and fair: a vision for Europe’s future
After the most profound shake-up in decades, European politics stands at a pivotal point in its long history. With nationalist parties drawing support from communities who have been left behind and green parties benefiting from a huge upsurge of concern around climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, there is a unique opportunity, argues Tim Jackson, to build a new vision for Europe that is green, prosperous and fair.
Managing a Post-Growth Economy: Circularity, Productivity and Inequality
“The circular economy is a very good idea, but it is a better idea when it is placed in the context of delivering prosperity, rather than aimed at increasing growth.” A conversation between Emanuele Di Francesco and Tim Jackson, discussing post-growth concepts of a circular economy, the limits of labour productivity and the dynamics of inequality.
How the light gets in—The science behind growth scepticism
The Entropy Law still matters. CUSP director Tim Jackson responds to Michael Liebreich’s essay on the ‘The secret of eternal growth’.—"Because we are intelligent does not mean that there is no such thing as limits. We cannot usefully ‘imagine’ the available carbon budget to be bigger than it actually is. Our ‘wonder’ will not in itself preserve the species lost precipitously in recent decades in the relentless pursuit of eternal growth."
Rethinking Economic Policy in the EU | First Postgrowth conference at EU parliament
Scientists, politicians, and policymakers gathering in Brussels for landmark conference: Hosted at the EU parliament, the multi-stakeholder event is exploring visions and solutions for a post-growth economy in Europe. An accompanying petition calling on the EU and its member states to plan for a postgrowth future is now published in leading newspapers all over Europe.
Paradise Lost?—The iron cage of consumerism
Our systematic failure to address existential anxiety robs society of meaning and blinds us to the suffering of others; to persistent poverty; to the extinction of species; to the health of global ecosystems. With his think piece Angst essen Seele auf — Escaping the ‘iron cage’ of consumerism, Tim Jackson adds to an eclectic set of essays, published in honour of Wolfgang Sachs.
LowGrow SFC: An ecological macroeconomic simulation model
System dynamics model by Tim Jackson and Peter Victor is live now, developing sustainable prosperity scenarios for the Canadian economy out to 2067. LowGrow SFC is part of a suite of system dynamics models developed by Tim Jackson and Peter Victor, including SIGMA, which addresses the key challenge of inequality in the context of declining growth rates; and FALSTAFF, which explores the financial and economic dimensions of a post-growth economy.
The Future Of Work — Lessons from the History of Utopian Thought | Paper
This paper aims to contribute towards the development of a political economy of work fit for purpose in a world of social and environmental limits. In order to get beyond today’s dominant conceptions of work in a growth-based capitalism, Simon Mair, Angela Druckman and Tim Jackson explore the role of work in historical utopias.
