Big figures, but how can we transform the economic system with ‘small is beautiful’?

Small is Beautiful Revisited, 1 – 5 June 2009

In his famous book, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered, E.F. Schumacher brilliantly articulated the need to align economics with natural resources.

“If only there were more and more wealth, everything else, it is thought, would fall into place. Money is considered to be all-powerful; if it could not actually buy non-material values, such as justice, harmony, beauty or even health, it could circumvent the need for them or compensate for their loss. The development of production and the acquisition of wealth have thus become the highest goals of the modern world in relation to which all other goals, no matter how much lip-service may still be paid to them, have come to take second place.” E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful


Thirty-six years on, our economic systems pay scant attention to natural resources and ecological systems. Instead, they are driven by exponential financial growth. We are now in the midst of arguably our worst economic crisis for several decades.

As the recent G20 London Summit has showed, our world leaders continue to attempt to address our economic crisis from within the existing economic system. After the Summit, the media coverage triumphantly reported on the US$1.1 trillion programme of support to help the world economy through the crisis.

However, the natural resources that the current system relies on continue to be depleted in the pursuit of economic growth. Our current crisis lies in our economic system’s benchmark value being money, and not our real, tangible resources. What values do we urgently need to cultivate in order to bring about economic, ecological and social sustainability?

This is the subject matter to which E.F. Schumacher earnestly devoted himself, and that which will be considered during our one week course in June, Small is Beautiful Revisited. Come on this course and meet inspirational people who continue to honour the ideas of E.F. Schumacher. George McRobie, friend and colleague of Schumacher will be joined by David Boyle, associate of the new economics foundation and Satish Kumar, of Schumacher College and Resurgence.

For full course details and booking information, click here.

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.