IGP publishes new book 'Prosperity in the Twenty-First Century'

22 June 2023

Part of the ‘Global Prosperity Thought and Practice’ series, the book sets out a new vision for prosperity in the twenty-first century and how it can be achieved for all

Today the Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) published an exciting new book, Prosperity in the Twenty-First Century. Concepts, models and metrics which shares the latest work on rethinking economics, prosperity and value from many people working at and with the IGP. It is edited by Professor Henrietta L. Moore, Dr Matthew Davies, Dr Nikolay Mintchev, Dr Saffron Woodcraft.

Collectively, this work makes an argument for rethinking global prosperity, outlines the transformative practices that will be necessary to change the world, and identifies methods and institutions already involved in co-producing a more inclusive and sustainable future.

The volume, which is freely available online, challenges orthodox understandings of economic models, but goes beyond contemporary debates to show how social innovation drives economic value. Drawing on substantive research in the UK, Lebanon and Kenya, it develops new concepts, frameworks, models and metrics for prosperity across a wide range of contexts, emphasising commonalities and differences. Its distinctive approach goes beyond defining and measuring prosperity – addressing the debate about the failures of GDP – to formulating and describing what is needed to make prosperity a realisable proposition for specific people living in specific locales.

Departing from general propositions about post-growth to delineate pathways to prosperity, the volume emphasises that visions of the good life are diverse and require empirical work co-designed with local communities and stakeholders to drive change. It is essential reading for policymakers who are stuck, local government officers who need new tools, activists who wonder what is next, academics in need of refreshment, and students and people of all ages who want a way forward.

“This is a question not just of fixing the problems of the present – although that has barely begun – but of hastening the advances of the future and repairing and remaking the relationships between place and the economy and between social, planetary and economic prosperity.” - Professor Henrietta L. Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity

‘A timely collection of thoughtful essays, addressing one of the most vital questions of our time. From London to the Lebanon and beyond, Moore and her team ask what prosperity can possibly mean – not in the abstract, but as lived experience – within the finite limits of planet Earth.’ – Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity without Growth

Download the book for free on the UCL Press website

This book is part of the IGP's Global Prosperity in Thought and Practice book series. This series introduces new methodological and theoretical approaches to engage with diverse ideas about what it means to live a prosperous life in different places and under varied conditions. The series draws together accounts of research and practice that build new pathways to a sustainable and prosperous global future.



Image credit: UCL Press