Good Books on Transitioning to a Sustainable Economy & Related topics

Herman Daly’s Economics for a Full World
His Life and Ideas. By Peter Victor

As the first biography of Professor Herman Daly, this book provides an in-depth account of one of the leading thinkers and most widely read writers on economics, environment and sustainability.

Herman Daly’s "Economics for a full world", based on his steady-state economics, has been widely acknowledged through numerous prestigious international awards and prizes. Drawing on extensive interviews with Daly and in-depth analysis of his publications and debates, Peter Victor presents a unique insight into Daly’s life from childhood to the present day, describing his intellectual development, inspirations and influence. Much of the book is devoted to a comprehensive account of Daly’s foundational contributions to ecological economics. It describes how his insights and proposals have been received by economists and non-economists and the extraordinary relevance of Daly’s full world economics to solving the economic problems of today and tomorrow.

Ecological Economic - Solutions for the Future.

edited by Haydn Washington

This book arose from the ANZSEE (Australian New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics) conference ‘Ecological Economics: Solutions Now and in the Future’ held at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia in November 2019 (https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/).  Following the conference we agreed that the book arising from this would be self-published so that the pdf could be given away free, and the paperback would be as cheap as possible, so that students and the general public would obtain it readily and/or could purchase it easily.

The Introduction was developed by the Editor and ecological economist A/Prof Philip Lawn, who originally had hoped to be co-Editor, but had to cancel due to personal reasons. Several chapters were reviewed by Dr Boyd Blackwell, President of ANZSEE. Hence, although this book was not published by a major publisher, it upholds academic rigour.  A Kindle copy is now available on Amazon. Download a low resolution copy.

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Positive Steps to a Steady State Economy,

edited by Haydn Washington (for CASSE NSW) follows on from the booklet ‘Addicted to Growth’. In 35 chapters, by academic and community experts, this book details 170 steps we can take to turn our economy onto a sustainable path. It is illustrated by 58 cartoons by the brilliant cartoonist Polyp.

If you can’t wait to see the book you can download a low resolution copy.

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A Future Beyond Growth A Future Beyond Growth, edited by Haydn Washington, Paul Twomey explores the reason why the endless growth economy is fundamentally unsustainable and considers ways in which society can move beyond this to a steady state economy. The book brings together some of the deepest thinkers from around the world to consider how to advance beyond growth. The main themes consider the deep problems of the current system and key aspects of a steady state economy, such as population; throughput and consumerism; ethics and equity; and policy for change. The policy section and conclusion bring together these various themes and indicates how we can move past the growth economy to a truly sustainable future.

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Addicted to Growth by Haydn Washington (for CASSE NSW). This is an introduction to the steady state economy from an Australian perspective including what it would be like to live in a steady state economy and easy/immediate steps we can take to get there. Please see Pdf version . Click here : Download

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Supply Shock by Brian Czech (President of CASSE) debunks the widely accepted myths held by politicians, economists, and Wall Street that limitless economic expansion is the Holy Grail, and that there is no conflict between growing the economy and protecting the environment.

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Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources by Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill presents a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth—an economy where the goal is enough, not more.

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The End of Growth by Richard Heinberg explains the financial crisis and describes what policymakers, communities, and families can do to build a new economy that operates within Earth’s budget of energy and resources.

The End of Growth — A Summary

The Happy Economist Happiness for the hard-headed by Ross Gittins finds that “… a different approach by governments – with less emphasis on economic growth and efficiency, and more on preserving the planet and the social fabric – could add to ‘national happiness'”

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World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse Paperback – 
by Lester R. Brown (Author)

In this urgent time, World on the Edge calls out the pivotal environmental issues and how to solve them now.

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The Burden of Durable Asset Acquisition in Growing Populations by Jane N. O’Sullivan investigates the costs of maintaining the per capita capacity of durable assets (infrastructure, equipment and skilled personnel) when the population is growing.

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Credit creation and the ‘growth imperative’: a quasi-stationary economy with debt-based money by Tim Jackson and Peter A. Victor shows that it is possible to move to a stationary state (steady state) economy without prohibiting interest bearing debt.

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Motivating Sustainable Consumption: a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change by Tim Jackson looks at different models of change and opportunities for encourages more sustainable lifestyles.

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Economics for a full world - By Herman Daly  https://www.greattransition.org/publication/economics-for-a-full-world

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The Path to Sustainable Civilisation  by Mark Diesendorf & Rod Taylor

As the authors note:  "The way out of our black hole is to build social movements to pressure to government and big business, to weaken the power of vested interests and strengthen democratic decision-making.
This must be done with actions on climate, energy, natural resources and social justice.
Our goal is an ecologically sustainable, socially just civilisation."  This book has been well received . It is accessible for a wider readership while also  it has attracted positive comments from notable economists and commentators.  It clarifies in some detail what "Sustainability " is actually  about and how the major shift toward a Steady State Economy can be achieved.