Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to this end-of-year edition of the CUSP Newsletter. The turmoil of 2024 is difficult to sum up in any simple or even coherent way – for CUSP as for the world. The need to articulate a truly sustainable prosperity remains as urgent as ever. But the political space in which to pursue that inquiry has changed unrecognisably in the nine years since CUSP was founded and narrowed perceptibly in the last year or so.
Geopolitical insecurity has increased. Ecological concerns have been weaponised for political ends. What at first seemed like a hardening of political extremes has revealed itself more recently as an unfamiliar and confusing place in which the traditional divisions between left and right are less and less relevant. CUSP has continued to respond proactively to these unsettling changes.
Understanding sustainable prosperity has always meant challenging the deeply held assumptions that lie at the core of economic structure. Will Davies’ article on the asset condition as an existential conundrum, Simon Mair’s paper on the relationship between energy and capital in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Peter Victor’s letter to the Financial Times on the limits of the ‘comparative advantage’ all underline our continued role in addressing these challenges.
As ever, we’ve also been involved in understanding and supporting the conditions for change. Kate Burningham and Sue Venn’s article on ‘caring consumption’, Christine Corlet Walker’s exploration of growth dependency in the welfare state, Shimaa Elkomy’s analysis of health resilience in the face of pandemics, Kim Graham’s ‘good practice guide’ for social enterprises working in the food sector and Andrea Werner’s paper on ‘virtue ethics’ in the fashion industry all illustrate our continued contribution to that task.
We’re deeply grateful to our core funders – the ESRC and Laudes Foundation – for their continued support for this ground-breaking work. And we’re particularly proud to be playing a substantial role in a major new EU Horizon project led by the University of Barcelona which will explore Models, Assessment and Policy for Sustainability (MAPS) in a post growth context. Our work with business includes an exciting new collaboration with Ernst & Young’s ambitious New Economy Unit. Our support for civil society includes Tim Jackson’s widely cited report on The False Economy of Big Food. Our collaboration with the Aldersgate Group continues to be influential in shifting and shaping government policy.
In short, CUSP’s work remains best-in-class. Our engagement with stakeholders across society continues unabated. Our community of researchers, activists, associates and fellows continues to thrive. If the breadth of our mission has changed since our inception, it has done so only to ensure that our ability to address that central question can be construed as widely and communicated as clearly as possible in changing circumstances. What can prosperity possibly mean on a finite planet? That defining mission remains as vital as ever.
The beginning of our tenth year in action will no doubt ring more changes and throw down deeper challenges. Rest assured we’ll remain as engaged as ever in responding to them. To bring you just one example, we’re pleased to announce that Tim’s book on The Care Economy will be published in February. Stay tuned for the launch in London.
Wishing you happy holidays and a peaceful (and healthy) New Year.
Kate Burningham and Tim Jackson
—CUSP Co-Directors
