Small Is Beautiful

Small Is Beautiful is the title of a book by E. F. Schumacher. The 1973 publication of Small is Beautiful, a collection of essays, brought Schumacher's ideas to a wider audience. It was released soon after the effects of the 1973 energy crisis shook the world and dealt with the crisis and various emerging trends (like globalization) in a novel fashion.

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Title - Book - E. F. Schumacher - 1973 - Essay - 1973 energy crisis - Globalization

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Schumacher a respectable economist, who worked with J.M. Keynes and J.K. Galbraith, and for 20 years was the president of the National Coal Board in United Kingdom, opposed the neo-classical economics by declaring that single-minded concentration on output and technology was dehumanizing, that one's workplace should be dignified and meaningful first, efficient second, and that the nature is priceless. Schumacher proposed the idea of "smallness within bigness"; in other words, a specific form of decentralisation: for a large organization to work it must behave like a related group of small organizations. 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:
J.M. Keynes - J.K. Galbraith - National Coal Board - United Kingdom - Neo-classical economics - Output - Technology - Decentralisation - Organization - Ecological - Environmentalism - Environmental movement - Community movement

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In first chapter of 'Small Is Beautiful', The Problem of Production, Schumacher points out that our economy is unsustainable. The natural resources (especially fossil fuels), are treated as income, when in fact they should be treated as capital, since they are not renewable and thus subject to eventual depletion. He further points out that similarly, the capacity of nature to resist pollution is limited as well. He concludes that government effort must be concentrated on reaching sustainable development, beacuse relativly minor improvements like education for leisure or technology transfer to the Third World countries will not solve the underlying problem of unsustainable economy.

Related Topics:
Economy - Natural resources - Fossil fuel - Income - Capital - Pollution - Sustainable development - Education for leisure - Technology transfer - Third World

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