Doughnut Economics

Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

By: Kate Raworth

Narrated by: Kate Raworth

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Doughnut Economics written and read by Kate Raworth.

Economics is broken. It has failed to predict, let alone prevent, financial crises that have shaken the foundations of our societies. Its outdated theories have permitted a world in which extreme poverty persists while the wealth of the super-rich grows year on year. And its blind spots have led to policies that are degrading the living world on a scale that threatens all of our futures.

Can it be fixed? In Doughnut Economics, Oxford academic Kate Raworth identifies seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has led us astray, and sets out a roadmap for bringing humanity into a sweet spot that meets the needs of all within the means of the planet. En route, she deconstructs the character of 'rational economic man' and explains what really makes us tick. She reveals how an obsession with equilibrium has left economists helpless when facing the boom and bust of the real-world economy. She highlights the dangers of ignoring the role of energy and nature's resources - and the far-reaching implications for economic growth when we take them into account. And in the process, she creates a new, cutting-edge economic model that is fit for the 21st century - one in which a doughnut-shaped compass points the way to human progress.

Ambitious, radical and rigorously argued, Doughnut Economics promises to reframe and redraw the future of economics for a new generation.

Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2017

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

©2017 Kate Raworth (P)2017 Random House Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"The John Maynard Keynes of the 21st century." (George Monbiot, The Guardian)

"This is sharp, significant scholarship.... Thrilling." ( Times Higher Education)

"A really important economic and political thinker." (Andrew Marr)

awfull

this book keeps focussing on graphics and images, all the while referring to the 'conpanion booklet'. if I had my hands and eyes available I would be reading a paper book. this is like listening to a comic book. absolutely worthless.

Fatally Conceited

This book is written by an activist, not an empirical observer of reality. It's well researched at times, but the author often gets lost in her own righteousness. It's is somewhat a nice counterbalance to anyone that's gone down the libertarian rabbits hole, but this book doesn't really address the stronger points that Hayek et al raises, simply dismisses them and moves on. The book assumes policy can overtly control the economy from the top down. Hayek describes this as the fatal conceit. An overestimation of ones control over their complex environment.

making growth uncool again

You would think that after the financial crisis and decades of knowing about environmental pollution and human induced climate change we would change the way we do business. But the story we tell ourselves and each other about what an economy is is still based on the idea of limitless growth which can't be sustained on an inherently finite planet. In these precarious times the world seems to fall back on very simple (political) messages because out of fear our brains revert back to primal survival modes. That's perhaps why I was first opposed to this image of the doughnut but throughout the book have come to embrace it as the simple message and shared image the world needs to replace our old ideas. Kate was educated as an economist herself and admits that the people best fit to be the new world's economists are the ones not formally trained as one. Throughout the book she reveals how the ideas of Maynard Keynes, Adam Smith, Friedman and Stiglitz were used to push nations' agendas for GDP growth in a global financial market economy for which there seemed no alternative. Even though political and economical philosophers back to Aristotle have made a distinction between economics as the production of value in the household and the accumulation of wealth as something different, in capitalist society we have to come to regard the latter as the goal since we don't monetize the first. Kate is aware of the power of evoking mental (visual) frames and in the end talks about the economy as a plane that took of and has been flying ever since but we didn't really think how we would land it. Far from talking doomsday scenarios, she actually makes very concrete proposals to start thinking differently within the means of the planet and actually change the goal of what we're doing. She does not say it in these exact words but we should focus on human nature and happiness (learning skills, being connected, etc) rather than material gain beyond what we need to live well. We should create and economy in which everyone can thrive, us and the planet, regardless of whether the economy grows or not.

Amazing and inspirering

Loved it, and it is very inspirering! strongly recommend it if you feel a bit overwhelmed by the state of the world and can't find comfort I. the traditional economic viewpoints.

Idealistic, provocative and preachy

Listened to it twice just to really get the hang it. Idealistic, provocative and preachy. Will follow the movement, not yet a fan.

Must read

I liked how this book challenges economic orthodoxy and places the environment in a central part of the the discussion.

Kate Loves economics and explains her arguments clearly and completely. While I am not sold on every argument from my perspective as an African reader living in Africa. For instance we can’t necessarily afford to pursue Green growth industrial policy, I am nonetheless happy to have read this book.

I found many ideas to pursue and examine further and my effort reading this book has not been wasted. Reading it in 2022 has also allowed me the chance to evaluate whether it stood the test of time. It did.

Invaluable content

This is a transformative book. I got new lenses to see the world. Being a book with great depth in economic theories, is also an entertaining book

Inspiring and enlightening

The book gives a solid and enlightening introduction to circular economics, Donut economics. Challenging economics and present view on our life and society, and gives us options for a different way of organizing society.

Must read for every Economist who wants to understand the bigger picture

Kate does not only explains her idea of the donut economy but also takes the big works of the most famous economist’s and supports with lots of logic and reason the heavy hard fact that infinite grows is not possible but a disaster which most of us starting to realize.
We all need to support this view in our daily conversations and try to influence our politicians to change there thinking.
Time to act is limited, let’s get started!

A must read

This book should be in the high school currículum of all countries. The chances of improving the world highly increase if every person (not every economist) reads it.

Got better as it went along

A good book for understanding what people are proposing to overcome the shortcomings of today’s pervasive economics-based goals and reasoning. I was underwhelmed by the off-hand dismissals of all neoclassical economic thinking in the first half (a convincing treatment of why we need something better would have made it easier to go along with the story of how to go about it) but it improved and became more balanced. My lingering concerns: the focus is almost all on national economies and policies but there is almost nothing about how one country could break free of the growth paradigm without wrecking the value of its currency and its standing in the international economy, especially vis-à-vis multinationals; too much easy optimism drawn from very localised and context-specific case studies like small, isolated tribes and early-stage renewable power projects.

compelling arguments but misses one vital issue.

My take on her work is - it's all compelling, its all correct, it all makes sense, it speaks to our better natures and is a wealth of possibilities to see a thriving world for future generations. It's just I don't think it's powerful enough to offset our greed, selfishness, tribalism, neolibralism and xenophobia. Those fears and drivers are just too strong. Much like in iterations of the prisoners dilemma, we all know what we should do, we know we would all be better off, but we still choose the other path. I just don't think we have it in ourselves to enter and stay in the doughnut.

No Solutions

As with most oppositions to capitalism this offers no solutions and simply criticises everything without any real alternative. It's essentially a socialist rant.

Essential...

.... critical and constructive analysis of the world around us. Proof that economics is an ideology not a science.

Hugely disappointing

I approached this book hoping to learn something, but it was boringly disappointing. I usually finish even bad books but with this it was impossible. It confuses grand statements for intellectual insights, ambitious goals with actual delivery, and Wikipedia-level material for research. I would strongly recommend to anyone not to waste money and time.
(Luciano Floridi, Kia's husband)

Little substance

The author places forth a new 'model' but it in fact holds little substance or originality. It vastly exaggerates the shortfalls about the economy (businesses only seek profits, investors don't care etc) and was more than anything a scorn piece, rather than any sort of tangible solution to the problems we face as a society.

Interesting but a little frustrating

Economics is nonsense and economists are simpletons. They create absurdly basic theoretical models then are confused when real life doesn't do as they predict. The whole world is then run based on their consistently short-term thinking and their blind worship of GDP. That's the key takeaway from this very accessible book. Raworth seems to have a low opinion of economics generally. Looking at the state of the world around us, she's probably right.

This is an interesting and well-researched book that successfully exposes 'neoclassical' economics for the sham it is. I'd recommend it to anyone.

But the book's solutions can themselves feel woolly and utopian. Raworth uses various studies to back up her belief that humans are selfless, altruistic, cooperative and trusting - but does that really chime with the more complex reality we see around us every day?

The whole thing has the breezy, relaxed tone of someone who will never actually be affected by the hopelessness of poverty, and to whom economic hardship is a largely academic matter to be languidly considered over a flat white. She posits that, instead of growth, humans should adopt a mindset that values 'sufficiency' above all else. The privilege inherent in such a perspective goes unchecked.

There's little sense of anger or urgency. 'Let's play pin the tail on the donkey to find where we are on the growth curve!' she says at one point. Yes, a great idea, while the world burns and humans eradicate all other forms of life.

Maybe the answers to our current woes do lie in an organic community cooperative hemp farm in Kenya, or whatever. Or maybe that's just the airy thinking of yet another economist who refuses to accept reality. Either way, this is a good listen that offers an interesting perspective on economics as a discipline.

Great book, but audio version could be improved

Fascinating book, learned a lot. It is well researched, multi dimensional and changed the way I think. I found it rather heavy going to begin with but soon got into it. I Found Kate's reading pace too fast for me though, and could do with another listen. The audio kept cutting out at the beginning of sentences (particularly chapter 6/7) which was distracting. Also the illustration supplement is often referred to but I don't know how to get that (yet).

A hard doughnut to swallow

Doughnut Economics is a really cute title. It is unfortunately not the only cringeworthy aspect of this book. Kate Raworth's ambitious fairytale for adults encompasses Life, the Universe and Everything. It warns against ecological and economic overshoot but itself overshoots in its wide-eyed claims and heterodox heresies.

The book has a few central problems: 1) It attempts a synthesis that lacks solid foundations and relies on ephemeral, dubious premises. 2) It is too utopian in its claims about the powers of social planners to "steward" social complexity. 3) It misrepresents basic economic facts, historical and theoretical, e.g. the nature of economic growth and the views of neoclassical and "neoliberal" (always a sign of trouble) thinkers. 4) It preaches humanistic pluralism and social cooperation but reeks of totalitarian impulses, what with its call for top-down global governance structures and for the subjugation of almost all private interests and markets to democratically agreed-upon ends. 5) Did I mention how much I hate the title?

Now, that sounds quite harsh, and that is intentional, but the book is not all bad. It explores absolutely crucial avenues, from environmental sustainability to the digital commons, from alternative currencies to basic income schemes, from land value taxation to financial reforms. It provides food for thought for any thinking person and it crystallizes a kind of a new manifesto for progressivism. But it overshoots. It fails to temper its high architectural hopes with engineering modesty. It doesn't get that complexity is an emergent order that cannot be set to serve particular chosen ends without sacrificing its very life force.

"Regenerative and distributive" is a nice catch phrase, but a more accurate one may be "all aboard the happy train, this way lies unwarranted short-lived enthusiasm." If you feel the calling in your heart, go ahead and follow the vision, my brave Soldiers of the Order of the Doughnut. But harken these words: do not be surprised if you encounter many road blocks - unexpected glitches in the Doughnut matrix - on the way to the completion of your sweet utopia.

Inspiring thoughts for change

very much enjoyed this book for its refreshing views throughout. Having studied economics myself, I found myself sometimes on the fence if status quo is completely off but it certainly requires deeper changes to fix the direction we're heading for.

The big question is still the 'how', as most examples given in the book are quite niche (for now) and the real task is how to change the system considering time is running out.