Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered

This book is required reading. I first read it when I was a much younger man, back in the late seventies. It had a profound effect on me at the time so I wanted to go back to it and see if it was still relevant. For a book that is now more than 40 years old it is stunning in it's perceptions and forecasts. If I didn't know the book, and someone had told me it had been recently written, I would have believed it. The only giveaways to it's age are the changes in technology. Schumacher couldn't have foreseen the rise of PCs, mobile phones, smart phones and various renewable energy sources now being developed, but the central messages of the book are as relevant as ever. The depressing part is how little we have learned in the last 40 years given that many of the problems he describes are still with us and getting worse. The subtitle "A Study of economics as if people mattered" is eerily prophetic given our modern world of big government, big business (mega sized corporations answerable to no one), big unions, unrestrained globalization. Schumacher was right - Small IS beautiful. It's a pity no one is taking any notice.

Returning to this extremely influencial book after nearly 40 years I was utterly dismayed to be reminded that Fritz was first and foremeost an economist and secondly what little scientific understanding he held was based on the German molecular science "inside the box" foundation not the more useful, for economics, "outside the box" British Natural Philosophy. He quotes C P Snow as stating that a man who is not familiar with the Second Law of Thermodynmics is only half educatated as an engineer who had never heard of Shakespeare; Fritz then dismisses as irrelevant the Law that Einstein and Eddington both claimed was the most important Law of the Universe; Fritz clearly demonstrates Snow's point that he, Fritz, was only half-educated and as such ignorant of how the Premier Law influences everything in the universe. How such a wonderful caring intellect, working inside an energy company, failed to understand that the economics of coal followed the 2nd Law, as indeed Jevons had noted 100 years before, is only explicable as lack of understanding as demonstrated by the worth he awards the then leading physicist C P Snow. British physicists formulated the 'Science of Energy' on the economics of coal at the height of the industrial revolution. 1973 was the year Georgescue Roegen published 'Entropy and the Economic Process'. Interestingly Fritz refers to 'spaceship earth' but seems in ignorance of Boulding essay so titled that was published in 1966 presenting just why the Second Law was so influential to real economics, while Soddy published the still unanswered case in 1912. The tragedy is indirect as Small is Beautiful is one of, or perhaps the, most widely ready, influential, beneficial, optimistic and sympathetic books ever written on economics; Frtitz's dismissal of the Second Law has been a major stumbling block to the acceptance that the most basic laws of Physical science underpin 'real' economics, whether ecological or just real. This has only encourgaged not challenged the belief that the 'so-called' science of economics can be valid yet in total denial to the physcial laws. If anyone came up with economic theory that defied the Law of Gravity, most folk would be just a little sceptical, but because of ignorance such as Fritz demonstrates allows the equally intellectually bizare concept of economic theory defying the Second Law to be intellectuallly respectable. Love and hug this book for its social and lifestyle messages and in particular Burmese economics, but replace the science commentary with Soddy, Boulding,Georgescue-Roegen and Daly so that Schumachers wisdom remains on firmer and more influential foundations.

One of the first impressions I got when starting on this book was that it is quite dated. First published in 1973, we are getting on for 50 years. The author talks of the emergence of nuclear power - which the proportion of total energy supply nationally as of 1970 was - UK 2.7% EU 0.6% and USA 0.3%. However, the subject matter of this book is of immense importance in the contemporary world. Questions of sustainability and the ECO movement in general have risen to new heights. So this book is of great relevance and could be dubbed `essential reading`. The fact that much of the subject matter refers to conditions around the 1970s creates a perspective and a comparison with today which is interesting. There is a chapter entitled Buddhist Economics where the psychological attitude of this philosophy towards life style is explored; the concept that it is better to leave non-renewables like coal and oil where they are and further - to base economic choices and decisions on the simplest solution, requiring the least expenditure and effort, so giving people more time for other things. In a chapter called The Greatest Resource - Education Schumacher suggests that we are living in a time of philosophical paucity and that a holistic approach to knowledge is needed in order to attain a healthy world view. This is quite a challenging chapter which is worthy of some study! I find myself tempted to include here countless quotes from the book as there is so much important material I feel. However, this would only give rise to a perhaps over lengthy review. So I will just say that this book should be read! Personally I am sometimes amazed at the stupidity of mankind in his relentless pursuit of gain and the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake. Are we really going to just self destruct? If so, what a waste! Surely our brains are able to do something intelligent! Part of the title of this book, as if people really mattered, comes to the fore in the section on nuclear power. Schumacher asks whether any of the decision makers really have any idea or indeed if they care at all about the fate of humanity when planning to build nuclear reactors and he repeats that short term gain and `economics` are the religion of modern society and our fate may well be sealed! Part 4 entitled Organisation and Ownership I found quite demanding reading and I should re-read it. We start to get in to political science here and I heard echoes of Rousseau in places. Concepts like the Social Contract and the theory behind how we organise and manage enterprise.

Schumacher was way ahead of his time. The title couldn't be more right: a study of economics as if people mattered. This a economics 101 for every economics faculty in the world.

great book! i bought a second copy to give to friends.

It's a beautiful book. It provides good food for thought. It always amazes me when I come across thinkers and writers who can apply their abilities for the greater common good. It's ethical, spiritual, and deeply practical. The basic premise of the book is extant, though the oil problem it cites may not be one of our times. It's a good book for everyone to read, especially those in policy, education, and business

Nice Book Indeed

This book from the 70s relates with such precision why the world is in its current state and why we need to change.