Doughnut Economics

A radical rethinking of what economics is actually for. Kate Raworth argues that the economic models taught in every university are dangerously outdated. They were designed for the 20th century and assume that growth is always good, that markets are self-correcting, and that the environment is an externality. “Doughnut Economics” offers a new visual framework: a doughnut-shaped space where humanity can thrive, with a social foundation below which no one should fall and an ecological ceiling above which we must not rise.

Why Read This

Raworth is an Oxford economist who spent years working at the United Nations and Oxfam before writing this book. She has seen firsthand how traditional economic thinking fails the poorest people and the planet. But this is not a polemic. It is a carefully constructed argument, built around seven key shifts in economic thinking, each illustrated with clear examples and visual models.

What makes the book stand out is that it does not just critique the old models. It proposes alternatives. Raworth draws on complexity theory, behavioral science, and ecological economics to sketch out what a 21st-century economics could look like. Cities like Amsterdam have already adopted her doughnut model as a policy framework, which gives the ideas a practical weight that pure theory often lacks.

What to Expect

Seven chapters, each tackling one outdated assumption and offering a replacement. The writing is clear and engaging, with hand-drawn diagrams that make abstract concepts concrete. Raworth assumes no prior economics knowledge. At 384 pages, it is a fuller read than “Freakonomics” but never feels dense. You will come away with a completely different picture of what the economy could be.