The conception of economics as a free-standing, autonomous discipline and sphere of activity, and even as an end unto itself, is one of the costliest fallacies of our age. It is precisely this fallacy that this book dismantles. That economic growth should be subordinated to broader human, cultural, political and ecological concerns, and that it should serve human growth by being intelligently harnessed to fuel community-development projects (rather than having politics hijacked by economics by c [...]

I baised, my economic philosophy is very much in agreement with Schumacher.Schumacher takes economics and makes it human, ethical, and easy to understand. Shumacher's perspective is economics as a set of tools to assess and answer questions rather than economics as the answer itself. He highlights the shortcomings of statistical models (i.e "externalities" such as quality of life, environmental degradation, social impacts, etc are not assessed).The response to Small is Beautiful was the creation [...]

I’ve never been all that interested in macroeconomics, but intrigued by the title, I gave Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher a try. It was a long read, but a good one, and I culled interesting insights from every chapter. Schumacher’s visionary simplicity with the largest elements of society were radical 30 years ago, but incredibly relevant, then and today.A fair portion of the book is spent emphasizing the way our economy is unsustainable and how quickly we use up our natural resources. [...]

This book was written by EF Schumacher, a German economist. As an Economics graduate at a conservative liberal arts university in the US South, I enjoyed the philosophy and ideas put forward in "Small is Beautiful". Trust me, this was not on my reading listI am fascinated with the idea that capitalism has become the new religion for the US/West and that envy/greed the primary morals. The book discusses how capitalistic systems push for growth to solve problems, including poverty, unemployment an [...]

It has been thirty years since I read this book for the first time. I had my original copy, so it was interesting to see what I'd highlighted and noted at that time. In most cases, I agree with the note, but it was especially interesting to see what the differences were.I've studied a lot of economics since that time, and it surprises me that so little of Schumacher's prejudices against the "religion" of economics have taken hold. Economics is so one dimensional (profit on a micro scale and GNP [...]

This is a tough one for me to rate. There were parts of it that I found quite insightful, parts that seemed very dated, parts that felt like a big letdown.Some thoughts:-EFS writes clearly about the problem of the "hedonic treadmill" (though he doesn't use that term) for materialist capitalism: "There are poor societies which have too little, but where is the rich society that says: 'Halt! We have enough'? There is none."-He advocates a "third way" between laissez-faire capitalism and state soci [...]

E.F. Schumacher was an economist, And he wrote Small is Beautiful to talk about the economicproblems we have in the world. this book was published back in the late ‘70s, and it has been updated more recently. the basic idea of Small is Beautiful is that our economies in the world are big, big businesses, have become too big. And they are not sustainable anymore. we’re destroying the planet Earth because we are consuming too much. Our economies are too big; our population, too big; our compan [...]

This is a very dry book on economics based on metaphysics. It questions modern motives and provides some insightfull answers to them.A great read altogether.

One of Cambridge Sustainability's Top 50 Books for Sustainability, as voted for by our alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. To find out more, click here.Small is Beautiful is a collection of essays outlining economist EF Schumacher's philosophy on modern economic, ecological and spiritual thinking. Its strength lies in Schumacher's ability to elegantly and intelligently question many assumptions of modern economics, highlighting some of the fallacies. What makes his [...]

Read for class.Several extremely interesting economic ideas, including pointing out some of the flaws with some economic statistical models, as well as offering some very interesting solutions. I admit some of these are too idealistic to be practical, but many of them are very interesting. The book also has a clearly religious disposition, which may turn off some freethinkers, but the ideas are still substantial enough to be considered and applied, as seen in the Bhutan.A very interesting book.

In an ideal world - as we are talking about ideal worlds, I suppose - I would give Small Is Beautiful five stars: it contains ideas that everyone should be aware of. So, for the ideas, five stars!Unfortunately however, there are different ways to review a book and as a work of literature I found it slightly disappointing. Obviously Schumacher was a great economist-thinker of his day and, I imagine, a charismatic speaker, but this doesn't convince me writing was another of his strong suits. Some [...]

Although a bit dated which is apparent when he refers to specific details, Schumacher's 1973 book Small Is Beautiful; Economics As If People Mattered is a wonderful starters introduction to Economics and how the preoccupation with profit and materialism has begun to undermine the deeper and higher values upon which human society might be built.Schumacher provides a series of simple to understand perspectives on how the world businesses might practice a more inclusive and compassionate set of val [...]

I would classify E.F. Schumacher as an economic philosopher. His thoughts are valid not just in Growth & Development economics but also extend to aspect of microeconomics, corporate culture, human resources and environmental economics. Schumacher is a Gandhian at heart. Nowhere is his writing pure theorising. There are practical application to problems in fields as diverse as you can imagine. The economics we learn in school seems very biased and this book presents a different way to look at [...]

Oof, tried to read this but found it dated and preachy. Some of Schumacher's fundamental ideas are wonderful and important, but I can't read books that make blanket statements about the iniquity and moral vacuity of modern society & how things were better before the 19th/20th/21st century.Also, if you're writing for an audience of non-conformists in the seventies and you're NOT a feminist, shame on you. (Schumacher says that "most" women shouldn't have to work, yet claims that meaningful wor [...]

Although I don't agree with everything he says, this small book by Schumacher contains extremely interesting ideas. I liked especially his chapters about education (which he calls The Greatest Resource) and about the prediction of future. I intend to use these ideas in several future posts in my blog: populscience/ in English and divulciencia/ in Spanish.

This book has been a part of my mental image of how the world ought to be for as long as I can remember. While the book was published in 1973 I think I had the notions in my mind even before that. Economic success should not be based on the largest size or the largest profits but the largest benefit to people. But I had never actually read the book as amazing as that seems. Now I have finally read it as it approaches its 50th anniversary.The book has a few too many biblical references for my lik [...]

Schumacher discourses on economics, through the prism of an ethics of care and respect for human dignity. Although some ideas are dated and the Christian grounding gives his metaphysical comments a flavour that can't help but put me off, this book contains several insights and ideas which merit interest & attention today. These include the absurdity of treating non-renewable resources as income instead of capital, the central importance of fulfilling work to human well-being and the need for [...]

It's amazing how old this idea is and yet how little we really take to heart. let us change.

Dated, Still Relevant The last great finical debacle, the one in 2007, is still affecting people the world over, but the affect is still heavy in American. I was personally affected, my wife and I both lost jobs. We have yet to recover from that. There was a snow storm a few weeks back. It occurred when the Polar Vortex slipped it’s usual spot over the North Pole and paid North America a visit. The company I work for is dependent upon trucks from Chicago based warehouses to fulfill the retail [...]

Small is Beautiful is a collection of speeches given by the author and as such some chapters are easier to comprehend than others. For the novice economist this book provides the language to understand and reflect on the economy and economic matters. It also goes some way to dispel myths such as economics being a subject far above the fathoming capacity of the lay person, or that the economy should be the top issue of any society worth its salt.At a time when economic growth is advocated for abo [...]

Si je devais recommander un livre à lire pour critiquer l'économie de marché capitaliste et présenter une conception plus englobante et plus humaine de l'économie, pour moi Small is Beautiful vient en tête de liste.L'économie de surconsommation actuelle, qui s'impose de plus en plus en tant que principe d'État, comme véritable culture du pouvoir, inhumaine et destructrice de la nature commence à montrer de manière de plus en plus évidente ses failles et les périls qu'elle fait peser [...]

This 1973 take on industrial and global economics is as applicable now as it was back then. Schumacher, perhaps the first to develop the notion of natural capital, argues for both the virtues and necessity of a sustainable economy, and he examines insightfully (if broadly) the requirements for such an economy. The book is an overflowing blend of realism and idealism, and this explains part of its attraction.It also sheds a somewhat disconcerting light on the present environmental movement, a mov [...]

A classic treatise on Gandhian economics, or as the title says, "people centered economics". Schumacher provides a good criticism of the modern methods of production that resulted from the desacrilisation of nature and man. Production relations that resulted in the alienation of man from his work and creative spirit, and the culture of mass production and mass consumption that led to the ruthless and violent exploitation of nature. He rightly challenges the unsustainable path of accumulation and [...]

I will admit to skimming a lot of this. But the underlying message is one that I am fully convinced of: that "logical absurdity.ructive of civilization[is] the pretense that everything has a price or, in other words, that money is the highest of all values" (48). It reminds me a lot of the ridiculousness that many of my students repeat, the belief -- without actually thinking it through -- that the only reason anyone would do anything is because of money. (Sometimes I want to yell at them, "If t [...]

I'm in complete agreement with the author that economics does not treat people and nature differently from inanimate assets and liabilities. However, truly frightening is the author's prescription that we, and the institutions of state, must become religious, and only then will we accord nature and people with the respect that is due to them. From the book it would seem as if all this 'dehumanizing' is only because of the development of science and technology and the decline of 'spirituality' (h [...]

I bought that book very long time ago in India, in a cheap paperback edition. It took me more than 20 years to pick it again, but when reading it, I was so suprised of its scientific approach and its deep originality, considering the book was written in the seventies. It worked as an eye-opener to me and it strongly developed my interest in various approaches to green economy and and sustainable human activities. I understand that the pace of our actual transition towards a sustainable way of li [...]

"The cultivation and expansion of needs is the antithesisof wisdom. It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace.Every increase of needs tends to increase one's dependenceon outside forces over which one cannot have control,and therefore increases existential fear. Only by areduction of needs can one promote a genuine reductionin those tensions which are the ultimate causes of strifeand war."

Corporations and capitalism are evil. Blah blah blah. More simplistic garbage drenched in Eastern mythology. I appreciate the attempt of the author to save the world from consuming itself into its grave, but such an effort deserves far more academic rigor than that exemplified by this book.This was assigned to me in class long ago. Admirable, but forgettable.

Granted, I only read 2 of the articles from this book, but I found the ideas there to be little more than Bono-esque bullshit (that is, Bono with regard to development issues--not Bono with regard to 'life').

The language is slightly dated, but the content is still relevant. 40 years after publication and we're still not getting it.