Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics is one of our favourites at Joy in Enough. It’s that rather rare thing – a book on economics that’s fun to read and easy to understand.
Part of its success is that Raworth strips away the preoccupations of her profession and reminds her readers that the whole point of economics is simply to manage how we live together. Its roots are in household management, the very practical business of running a home and making sure everyone has what they need.
The book describes ‘Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist’, the first of which is to ‘change the goal’. Instead of pursuing economic growth for the sake of growth, Raworth suggests a broader set of metrics – a series of environmental limits we need to stay below, and a set of social standards we need to stay above. The balance of those two gives us the doughnut shape of the title.
This, and the seven other principles in the book, are explained in a series of animations on Kate Raworth’s site. If you’re still not convinced that you want to take the time to read a book on economics, have a look and see if they prick your curiosity. Here’s the first of them:
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