E. F. Schumacher

Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was an internationally influential economic thinker with a professional background as a statistician and economist in Britain. He served as Chief Economic Advisor to the UK National Coal Board for two decades. His ideas became well-known in much of the English-speaking world during the 1970s. He is best known for his critique of Western economies and his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies. According to London's Times Literary Supplement, his book Small Is Beautiful is among the 100 most influential books published since World War II. It was soon translated into many languages and brought international fame to Schumacher, after which Schumacher was invited to many international conferences, university guest speaker lectures and consultations. Schumacher's basic development theories have been summed up in the catch-phrases Intermediate Size and Intermediate Technology. Schumacher's other notable work is A Guide For The Perplexed, which is a critique of materialist scientism and an exploration of the nature and organisation of knowledge.

Schumacher as writer

Schumacher wrote on economics for London's The Times and became one of the paper's chief editorial writers ; he also wrote for The Economist and Resurgence. He served as adviser to the India Planning Commission, as well as to the governments of Zambia and Burma — an experience that led to his much-read essay on "Buddhist Economics."

Related Topics:
The Times - Editorial writer - The Economist - Resurgence - India Planning Commission - Zambia - Burma

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The 1973 publication of Small is Beautiful, a collection of essays, brought his ideas to a wider audience. Schumacher's work coincided with the growth of ecological concerns and with the birth of environmentalism and he became a hero to many in the environmental movement and community movement.

Related Topics:
1973 - Small is Beautiful - Essay - Ecological - Environmentalism - Environmental movement - Community movement

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Schumacher's other notable book, A Guide For The Perplexed, is both a critique of materialistic scientism and an exploration of the nature and organisation of knowledge.

Related Topics:
A Guide For The Perplexed - Materialistic - Scientism - Knowledge

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