Institute for Global Prosperity launches new ‘Prosperity in the 21st century’ book

Institute for Global Prosperity launches new ‘Prosperity in the 21st century’ book at first Director’s Seminar of the academic year

The second book of the ‘Global Prosperity Thought and Practice’ series will be launched at the first Director's Seminar of the academic year, which will take place on 5th October. Speakers will include Professor Jo Beall (LSE), Dr Matthew Davies (University of Cambridge), Dr Ruth Yeoman (Kellogg College, University of Oxford) and Dr Marit Hammond (Keele University), and the event will be chaired by the IGP's Director Professor Henrietta L. Moore.

Edited by Professor Henrietta L. Moore, Dr Matthew Davies, Dr Nikolay Mintchev and Dr Saffron Woodcraft, the volume 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 available to download for free 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.

““The central premise of the book is based on an innovative conceptual understanding of prosperity. We formulate what we need to do to make prosperity a realisable proposition for specific people living in specific locales and outline why this entails a rethinking of economic value and systems change.”

Professor Henrietta L. Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity

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.

““This is a book for our time. It comes at a moment of protracted global recession and environmental crisis, and a broadening recognition that conventional economic instruments are failing to protect people and our planet. It offers authoritative analysis, transformative pathways and reason to hope. Above all, it shows how prosperity, differently understood, resides in the people who live it.”

Professor Jo Beall, London School of Economics and Political Science

““In an increasingly fragmented world, one of the biggest challenges is to enable people to come together to work towards shared visions in which they feel they have a degree of ownership and a clear inclusive role to play. This book acts as a stepping stone to the next phase of citizen-led research and design.”

Dr Matthew Davies, University of Cambridge

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