What is *Doughnut Economics* by Kate Raworth about?

*Doughnut Economics* presents a groundbreaking economic framework that balances human needs with planetary boundaries. The model visualizes a "safe zone" shaped like a doughnut, where the inner ring represents 12 social foundations (e.g., food, education, equity) and the outer ring outlines 9 ecological limits (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss). The goal is to thrive within this space, moving beyond GDP growth.

Who should read *Doughnut Economics*?

This book is essential for policymakers, economists, sustainability professionals, and activists seeking alternatives to traditional growth-focused models. It also appeals to educators, students, and anyone interested in redefining prosperity through equitable resource distribution and ecological stewardship.

Is *Doughnut Economics* worth reading?

Yes—it’s a visionary yet practical guide for 21st-century challenges. Raworth’s accessible writing, real-world examples (like Amsterdam’s post-Covid recovery plans), and critiques of outdated economic theories make it a vital resource for reshaping global and local economies.

What are the seven principles of Doughnut Economics?

Raworth’s principles include: - **Change the goal** from GDP growth to thriving within the doughnut. - **Design to distribute** wealth and opportunities equitably. - **Nurture human nature** as cooperative, not purely self-interested. These ideas challenge conventional economics by prioritizing social and ecological balance.

How does the Doughnut model define ecological boundaries?

The outer ring of the doughnut represents nine planetary limits, including climate change, ocean acidification, and freshwater use. Exceeding these risks ecological collapse, while staying within them ensures Earth’s systems remain stable.

What critiques exist about Doughnut Economics?

Critics argue the model lacks granular implementation strategies and may oversimplify complex systems. Others note its reliance on existing frameworks like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. However, supporters praise its holistic vision and adaptability.

How does Doughnut Economics differ from traditional economic theories?

Unlike Keynesian or neoliberal models focused on infinite growth, Raworth’s framework prioritizes regenerative systems and equitable resource distribution. It rejects GDP as a success metric, emphasizing social and ecological well-being instead.

What real-world applications use the Doughnut model?

Amsterdam adopted the framework in 2020 to guide sustainable urban policies, focusing on circular economies and social equity. Similar initiatives exist in Brussels, Costa Rica, and among NGOs aiming to align local actions with global boundaries.

Doughnut economics

seven ways to think like a 21st century economist

Kate Raworth

4.17(15186 Reviews)

Overview of Doughnut economics

Doughnut Economics reimagines prosperity beyond GDP growth, balancing human needs with planetary boundaries. Endorsed by the Pope and adopted by Amsterdam for post-pandemic planning, Raworth's revolutionary framework asks: What if our economy could thrive without endless growth, serving both people and planet?

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Chapter 1

Reimagining Economics for a World That Works for All

The year 2008 marked a pivotal moment for economics. As the global financial system collapsed, a generation of economics students found themselves questioning the relevance of what they were being taught. Yuan Yang, then a student at Oxford University, voiced frustration with economic theories that seemed disconnected from real-world crises. Rather than giving up, she joined forces with like-minded students worldwide who were challenging mainstream economics. This student rebellion, which spread to universities from Paris to Harvard, demanded an economics education relevant to 21st-century challenges like climate change, inequality, and financial instability. Their movement highlighted a fundamental truth: economics needed radical reinvention, not just incremental reform.

Chapter 2

The Doughnut: A Compass for Human Progress

Kate Raworth's "Doughnut Economics" offers a groundbreaking reinvention of economic thinking through a deceptively simple visual framework. The Doughnut represents the sweet spot where humanity can thrive - a safe and just space between two critical boundaries. The inner boundary forms a social foundation of twelve human necessities that no one should fall below: food, water, energy, healthcare, education, housing, gender equality, social equity, political voice, peace and justice, income and work, and social networks. The outer boundary represents nine planetary boundaries we shouldn't exceed: climate change, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorus loading, freshwater withdrawals, land conversion, biodiversity loss, air pollution, and ozone layer depletion. Between these boundaries lies the Doughnut itself - the space where we can meet everyone's needs within Earth's means. This visual model has proven remarkably powerful in policy discussions and planning sessions worldwide, from Amsterdam's city planning to United Nations development frameworks. It makes visible what many had intuited but never seen represented so clearly: the interconnected challenges of social and environmental sustainability. The model offers a positive economic vision that moves beyond the endless growth paradigm toward dynamic balance, showing how prosperity can flourish within natural limits. The challenge of operating within the Doughnut's boundaries is immense and growing more urgent. Despite unprecedented improvements in human wellbeing over the past 70 years - including doubled life expectancy, dramatically reduced extreme poverty, and increased literacy rates - we now exceed the Doughnut's boundaries on both sides. Billions still lack life's essentials while we've already crossed several planetary boundaries. The "Great Acceleration" of human activity since 1950 has put unprecedented pressure on Earth's systems - global population nearly tripled from 2.5 to 7.7 billion, GDP increased sevenfold, primary energy use quadrupled, and fertilizer consumption increased eightfold. What makes the Doughnut revolutionary is how it fundamentally reframes economics' purpose and metrics of success. Rather than pursuing endless GDP growth as the primary indicator of progress, it focuses on meeting everyone's needs while respecting planetary boundaries. This isn't simply about adding environmental concerns to existing economic models - it requires reimagining economics from first principles. The framework challenges us to ask: How can we ensure every person has access to life's essentials while ensuring our collective pressure on Earth's life-supporting systems doesn't push us beyond critical tipping points? This question has profound implications for how we design economic policies, measure progress, and envision development at all scales - from household to global. The Doughnut model has gained particular relevance in the wake of global crises, offering a framework for "building back better" that addresses both social and environmental imperatives. Cities, governments, and organizations worldwide are now using it to guide policy decisions and strategic planning, demonstrating its practical utility in moving toward a more sustainable and equitable future.

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Chapter 3

Flawed Foundations: The Problem with Economic Man

At the heart of mainstream economics stands a deeply problematic character: rational economic man - solitary, calculating, and perpetually insatiable. This cartoon figure emerged through a gradual distortion of Adam Smith's originally nuanced portrayal of human nature, evolving into an increasingly simplified caricature. While Smith recognized humans as complex beings driven by both self-interest and moral sentiments, by the 1920s economists had transformed this concept into a superhuman figure endowed with godlike traits of perfect knowledge, unwavering rationality, and flawless foresight. Despite being openly acknowledged as an "artificial abstraction" by its creators, this model became deeply embedded in economic theory and eventually promoted as an aspirational template for human behavior. The fundamental problem with this model is its profound disconnect from reality - nobody actually resembles this character. Decades of research across anthropology, psychology, behavioral economics, and evolutionary biology reveals humans as fundamentally social and reciprocating beings rather than merely self-interested actors. We regularly engage in behaviors that defy the economic man model: we help complete strangers without expectation of reward, donate blood to people we'll never meet, volunteer our time for community causes, and share resources without guaranteed returns. Even toddlers, before any social conditioning, spontaneously help others who are struggling with tasks. These behaviors emerge across cultures and throughout human history, suggesting they're fundamental to our nature rather than learned exceptions. Humans have actually evolved to become the planet's most sophisticated cooperative species, practicing what researchers call "strong reciprocity" - a complex social strategy combining conditional cooperation with the willingness to punish free-riders, even at personal cost. This behavior appears in economic games worldwide and helps explain the emergence of social institutions and moral norms that enable large-scale cooperation. Our values and preferences prove remarkably fluid, not fixed as economic models assume. We shift multiple times daily between different social roles - parent, professional, citizen, consumer - each activating different priorities and behaviors. We're fundamentally interdependent rather than isolated, constantly looking to others for cues about appropriate behavior and following social norms. This is especially true in situations of uncertainty, where we tend to mirror the actions of others rather than calculating optimal choices independently. Instead of perfect rational calculation, we rely on mental shortcuts, rules of thumb, and emotional intuitions to navigate complex decisions. Perhaps most importantly, we're deeply embedded in and dependent upon the natural world rather than standing apart from and dominant over it. "When we tell ourselves that we are selfish, competitive, acquisitive and individualistic by nature, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy," Raworth warns. The stories we tell about human nature shape institutional design, policy choices, and individual behavior. Our self-portraits fundamentally shape who we become, making it essential to portray humanity anew in economics - not as isolated maximizers, but as social, adaptive, and interdependent beings capable of remarkable cooperation.

Chapter 4

Beyond Mechanical Models: The Economy as a Complex System

Newton's falling apple revolutionized science but later misled economics. Seeking physics' respectability, 19th-century economists applied differential calculus to markets, likening economic laws to physical ones. They compared market equilibrium to pendulums and scissors, creating theories with heroic simplifications that assumed stable systems tending toward equilibrium. Reality is far more dynamic. The economy behaves not as a mechanical system but as a complex adaptive one, more like an ecosystem than a machine. At the heart of systems thinking lie three simple yet profound concepts: stocks and flows, feedback loops, and delay. Their interactions create complex, unpredictable behaviors like starling murmurations. Financial markets perfectly demonstrate these dynamics, with traders behaving like flocks through what George Soros calls "the reflexivity of markets" - feedback patterns where participants' views influence events, which then influence their views. This explains both consumer trends and asset bubbles. The 2008 financial crash revealed the danger of equilibrium thinking, as major institutions used macroeconomic models that completely omitted private banks and missed Hyman Minsky's crucial insight that stability breeds instability. Systems thinking also explains how inequality emerges not from varying abilities but from the inherent dynamics where wealth helps accumulate more wealth - what systems experts call the "Success to the Successful" trap. Computer simulations show how even small chance differences amplify into vast wealth gaps through these feedback loops. This perspective transforms how we view the economy, replacing the machine metaphor with that of a living organism. Economists must abandon their imaginary control panels and instead develop sensitivity to feedback loops that keep markets evolving - becoming gardeners rather than engineers.

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Chapter 5

Designing Distributive Economies

For decades, economists believed inequality would naturally diminish with economic growth - a theory visualized in Simon Kuznets' famous inverted U-curve. This comforting narrative suggested countries simply needed to grow their economies, and inequality would eventually take care of itself. But extensive research has thoroughly debunked this theory. In fact, the opposite has occurred - inequality has reached extreme levels, with the richest 1% now owning more wealth than the other 99% combined. This matters profoundly because inequality damages societies across multiple dimensions. Socially, more unequal countries experience higher rates of mental illness, drug use, obesity, and community breakdown. Politically, inequality jeopardizes democracy by concentrating power and creating markets for political influence. Ecologically, it fuels status competition and conspicuous consumption. Economically, inequality creates systemic instability - IMF economists found striking similarities between the 2008 financial crisis and the 1929 Great Depression, both following periods of increased income concentration among the wealthy. "Don't wait for economic growth to reduce inequality - because it won't," Raworth argues. "Instead, create an economy that is distributive by design." This requires redistributing not just income but wealth, time, and power through five key opportunities: First, land redistribution has historically reduced inequalities, as demonstrated in post-WWII Japan and South Korea. Henry George observed that land's value often comes from communal factors rather than the owner's efforts, suggesting land-value taxes could capture this unearned value. Second, money creation could be democratized. Central banks could implement "People's QE" - issuing money directly to households rather than banks - or fund national investment banks for green infrastructure. Complementary currencies are already flourishing alongside official money, from Kenya's Bangla Pesa voucher system to Switzerland's care-time credits. Third, enterprise ownership could be redesigned. Under shareholder capitalism, employees who show up daily are treated as costs to minimize, while shareholders who never visit are the ultimate insiders. Alternative models like employee-owned companies and cooperatives are thriving globally, from Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland to the UK's John Lewis Partnership. Fourth, technology ownership could be shared. The digital revolution threatens millions of jobs through automation, creating an "hourglass economy" with few high-skill and many low-skill jobs. Options include a "robot dividend" similar to Alaska's Permanent Fund or having states claim returns on publicly funded research. Fifth, knowledge could be treated as a commons rather than property. Intellectual property regimes that once spurred innovation now often stifle it through overuse and abuse. Meanwhile, the collaborative commons defies conventional economic theory as millions create free open-source software and hardware.

Chapter 6

Building Regenerative Systems

The long-standing belief that countries must prioritize growth before addressing environmental concerns has proven to be a dangerous myth. This "grow first, clean up later" mentality has led to devastating ecological consequences in developing nations like China and India, where rapid industrialization has created severe environmental crises. Rather than waiting for growth to fix ecological degradation, economies must be designed to be regenerative from the start - incorporating environmental sustainability into their foundational structure. Our industrial system currently operates on a degenerative linear model of "take, make, use, lose" that runs counter to the living world's cyclical processes. This industrial "caterpillar" breaks natural cycles, depleting resources and overwhelming nature's sinks with waste. For example, plastic production has increased twentyfold since 1964, with only 9% being recycled and the rest accumulating in landfills and oceans. While economic theory recognizes these "negative externalities" and offers market solutions like carbon taxes and emissions quotas, these approaches often prove inadequate in practice, failing to address the systemic nature of environmental degradation. The circular economy offers an alternative vision - harnessing endless solar energy to continually transform materials into useful products. This requires abandoning the linear take-make-use-lose mentality for cradle-to-cradle thinking, where waste becomes food for new cycles of production. Materials belong to two nutrient cycles: biological (soil, plants, animals) and technical (plastics, synthetics, metals) - forming the two wings of a butterfly economy. In this model, biological nutrients return safely to the biosphere, while technical materials circulate continuously through the industrial system. Companies like Interface have demonstrated this approach's viability, creating carpet tiles designed for easy disassembly and recycling. Cities too can be regenerative by design. Janine Benyus envisions "generous cities" that nestle within living systems, with buildings that sequester carbon and treat wastewater. Examples include Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, which combines architecture with living systems to create self-sustaining ecosystems, and Stockholm's Royal Seaport district, which aims to be fossil-fuel-free by 2030. The approach asks not "what's my fair share to take?" but "what benefits can we layer in so we can give some away?" - transforming urban areas from resource consumers to regenerative contributors. Despite regenerative design's potential, today's pioneers face formidable obstacles: working within economic systems still trapped in degenerative thinking. Traditional metrics like GDP fail to account for environmental costs, while quarterly profit pressures discourage long-term regenerative investments. The fundamental truth is that regenerative industrial design requires regenerative economic design to fully succeed, which demands rebalancing market, commons and state roles while redefining business purpose. This includes developing new metrics for success, implementing true-cost accounting, and creating financial incentives that reward regenerative practices. Companies like Patagonia and Interface demonstrate that profitable business models can align with regenerative principles, but systemic change requires broader economic transformation.

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Chapter 7

Beyond Growth: Designing Economies That Thrive Whether or Not They Grow

The question of economic growth divides people deeply, with beliefs held almost religiously. The conundrum we face is stark: no country has ever ended human deprivation without a growing economy, yet no country has ever ended ecological degradation with one. Classical economists intuitively understood that growth must eventually stop. Adam Smith believed every economy would reach a "stationary state," while John Stuart Mill welcomed this prospect, writing that in a stationary state there would be "as much scope as ever for all kinds of mental culture, and moral and social progress." Today's growth debate has polarized into two opposing camps. The "keep-on-flying" advocates argue growth is politically necessary for democracy and social progress, while technological advances will enable green growth through decoupling GDP from ecological impacts. The "prepare-for-landing" camp counters that sufficient decoupling is simply not feasible, particularly as we transition away from fossil fuels. The fundamental problem remains: our economies are structured to expect and depend on continual growth whether or not it makes us thrive, while we need economies that make us thrive whether or not they grow. Governments desperate to sustain GDP growth resort to destructive measures: deregulating finance, dismantling protections, privatizing public services, and pursuing fossil fuels despite climate commitments. Preparing for a post-growth future means redesigning financial, political and social structures that have made growth "the normal condition." At the heart of growth addiction lies finance's perpetual question: "what's the rate of return?" This pursuit of gain drives endless accumulation. Political addiction stems from three core concerns: the hope for raising revenue without raising taxes, fear of unemployment, and power dynamics of global economic standing. Social addiction manifests through consumer culture and the tensions of inequality. If we master the art of creating economies that thrive regardless of growth, we might find ourselves in a world where GDP bobs and dips in response to the evolving economy - more like kite surfing than flying an airplane.

Chapter 8

Becoming Economic Innovators

The most exciting insights driving new economic thinking are emerging from disciplines outside traditional economics departments-psychology, ecology, physics, history, Earth-system science, and complexity science. These fields bring fresh perspectives on human behavior, natural systems, and interconnected networks that challenge conventional economic assumptions. Economics would be wise to embrace these perspectives, stepping back from soloing to join the intellectual troupe, as complex global challenges require multidisciplinary solutions. Student-led movements like Rethinking Economics have gained significant momentum by building coalitions with employers who are increasingly frustrated by graduates' disconnect from the real economy. These employers note that traditional economic training often produces theorists who struggle with practical application and lack understanding of sustainability, inequality, and systemic risk. Some forward-thinking universities have embraced pluralistic education, bringing back economic history and introducing diverse schools of thought-from institutional economics to feminist perspectives and ecological economics. However, the most prestigious universities remain least responsive, maintaining the status quo to preserve their rankings and traditional methodologies, creating a challenging barrier to systemic change in economic education. A promising way to redefine "economist" is to look to innovators who've moved beyond new economic thinking to new economic doing-evolving the economy one experiment at a time. These pioneers are creating tangible alternatives through social enterprises, platform cooperatives, and circular economy initiatives. Their impact shows in new business models like Patagonia's environmental stewardship, the collaborative commons exemplified by Wikipedia, digital currencies such as local exchange trading systems (LETS), and regenerative design principles in agriculture and manufacturing. As systems thinker Donella Meadows noted, self-organization is a high leverage point for system change, making economists of us all through our daily choices and actions. Every experiment-whether a new enterprise model, complementary currency, or open-source collaboration-helps diversify, select and amplify a new economic future. The transformation happens at multiple levels: individual choices, community initiatives, and institutional change. We remake the economy not just through purchases but by moving savings to ethical banks, using peer-to-peer currencies like time banking, creating purpose-driven enterprises with alternative ownership structures, exercising parental leave rights, contributing to knowledge commons through open-source projects, and joining movements sharing our economic vision for a more equitable and sustainable future. "Be the change you want to see in the world," Gandhi famously said. Today's economic innovators honor this through practical action and systemic redesign. Raworth adds a crucial dimension: "Draw the change you want to see too." By combining verbal and visual framing-through diagrams, models, and alternative metrics-we gain a better chance of writing a new economic story for a safe and just century. This visual thinking helps us imagine and communicate new possibilities, making abstract economic concepts tangible and actionable for broader audiences.

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Chapter 9

The Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

Doughnut Economics presents seven fundamental shifts in economic thinking that together form a radically different approach to understanding and shaping our economic future: 1. Change the goal: Moving beyond GDP growth as the primary measure of progress to instead focus on thriving within the Doughnut's safe and just space. This means ensuring that all people have access to life's essentials while not overshooting Earth's ecological ceiling. For example, rather than celebrating when GDP rises 3%, we should celebrate when homelessness decreases or air quality improves. 2. See the big picture: Recognizing that markets aren't self-contained but deeply embedded within society, culture, and the living world. This means acknowledging that economic activity depends on countless unpaid contributions - from parental care and volunteer work to the services of natural ecosystems like pollination and water purification. 3. Nurture human nature: Replacing the outdated model of "rational economic man" with a more realistic understanding of human behavior. People are far more cooperative, emotionally complex, and adaptable than traditional economics assumes. We're interdependent beings capable of altruism, collaboration, and changing our minds when presented with new information. 4. Get savvy with systems: Moving from mechanical equilibrium thinking to understanding complex, dynamic systems. Modern economies behave more like weather systems than simple machines - they exhibit feedback loops, tipping points, and emergent properties that can't be reduced to simple supply and demand curves. 5. Design to distribute: Abandoning the notion that economic growth will naturally reduce inequality. Instead, build distributive principles into economic design through measures like employee ownership, progressive taxation, and universal basic services. Wealth inequality must be addressed through systemic design rather than hoped-for trickle-down effects. 6. Create to regenerate: Rejecting the "grow now, clean up later" mentality in favor of regenerative design from the start. This means creating circular business models that eliminate waste, restore natural systems, and generate positive ecological impacts - like buildings that clean the air or manufacturing processes that purify water. 7. Be agnostic about growth: Moving beyond the addiction to endless economic growth to embrace the possibility that economies might need to grow, stabilize, or even contract depending on circumstances. This requires creating economic systems that can help people thrive whether or not GDP is rising. These shifts represent more than mere policy adjustments - they form the foundation of a new economic paradigm suited to 21st-century challenges. The goal isn't to create another rigid economic doctrine but to foster an adaptive economic mindset that can evolve with our understanding and circumstances. Our generation stands at a unique historical junction - we're the first to fully comprehend the scale of our planetary impact and potentially the last with the opportunity to change course before crossing critical environmental thresholds. We possess unprecedented technological capabilities, scientific knowledge, and financial resources that could eliminate extreme poverty and ecological degradation. The challenge of our time is clear: we must create economic systems that enable human prosperity while regenerating our living planet, finding that sweet spot within the Doughnut's safe and just space where both people and nature can thrive together.

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Key Themes in Doughnut economics

planetary boundaries
regenerative design
distributive economics
social foundation
beyond gdp

Quotes from Doughnut economics

Humanity’s challenge in the 21st century is to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet.
Economics is not a science: it is a social science.
Get rid of GDP.
We need economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.
Growth has become such a ubiquitous feature of economic thinking that it is hard to imagine how economies could possibly function without it.

Characters in Doughnut economics

Kate RaworthAuthor and economist who created the Doughnut
Yuan YangOxford student who led the economic rebellion

About the Author

Kate Raworth is the renegade economist and bestselling author of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, renowned for pioneering the groundbreaking Doughnut model of sustainable development.

A Senior Teaching Fellow at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Raworth combines decades of fieldwork—from rural Zanzibar to UNDP policy design—with ecological and feminist economic insights. Her work challenges traditional growth-centric models, advocating instead for economies that balance social justice with planetary boundaries.

Raworth’s ideas have reached global audiences through her TED Talk (5+ million views), media contributions (The Guardian, BBC, Al-Jazeera), and collaborations with institutions like the UN and Oxfam. A member of the Club of Rome, she co-founded the Doughnut Economics Action Lab to empower communities and policymakers. Doughnut Economics has been translated into over 20 languages and endorsed by figures ranging from Pope Francis to Extinction Rebellion, solidifying its status as a seminal text in reimagining 21st-century prosperity.

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Chapter 9

Doughnut economics

OverviewOverview of Doughnut economics

One book. Many ways to hear it.

Reimagining Economics for a World That Works for All

The Doughnut: A Compass for Human Progress

See every word as you hear it

Flawed Foundations: The Problem with Economic Man

Beyond Mechanical Models: The Economy as a Complex System

Get more out of Doughnut economics

Designing Distributive Economies

Building Regenerative Systems

See every word as you hear it

Beyond Growth: Designing Economies That Thrive Whether or Not They Grow

Becoming Economic Innovators

Get more out of Doughnut economics

The Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

You made it to the end of Doughnut economics

Key Themes in Doughnut economics

Quotes from Doughnut economics

Characters in Doughnut economics

About the Author

Download Summary of Doughnut economics

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FAQs About This Book

What is Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth about?

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Is Doughnut Economics worth reading?

What are the seven principles of Doughnut Economics?

Part of a Learning Plan

Tourism student

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1,000,000+ curious minds.

1,000,000+ curious minds.

One book. Many ways to hear it.

Reimagining Economics for a World That Works for All

The Doughnut: A Compass for Human Progress

See every word as you hear it

Flawed Foundations: The Problem with Economic Man

Beyond Mechanical Models: The Economy as a Complex System

Get more out of Doughnut economics

Designing Distributive Economies

Building Regenerative Systems

See every word as you hear it

Beyond Growth: Designing Economies That Thrive Whether or Not They Grow

Becoming Economic Innovators

Get more out of Doughnut economics

The Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

You made it to the end of Doughnut economics

Users also liked

Part of a Learning Plan

Tourism student

Discover more

Overview of Doughnut economics