Small is Beautiful

One of the most thought provoking books published on economics and development is the counter cultural Small is Beautiful by EF Schumacher. In many ways Schumacher’s thoughts are as applicable today as they were when he wrote in the 1960s.

In particular, I have been impacted by his view that the primary causes of economic poverty are not material but metaphysical and that education is our greatest resource. Here are some quotes worth considering from Small is Beautiful.

•"At present, there can be little doubt that the whole of mankind is in mortal danger, not because we are short of scientific and technological know-how, but because we tend to use it destructively, without wisdom. More education can help us only if it produces more wisdom."

•"Education which fails to clarify our central convictions is mere training or indulgence. For it is our central convictions that are in disorder, and, as long as the present anti-metaphysical temper persists, the disorder will grow worse. Education, far from ranking as man’s greatest resource, will than be an agent of destruction, in the accordance with the principle of corruption optimi pessima".

•"Development does not start with goods; it starts with people and their education, organisation, and discipline. Without these three, all resources remain latent, untapped, potential".

•"The best aid to give is intellectual aid, a gift of useful knowledge. A gift of knowledge is infinitely preferable to a gift of material things. Nothing becomes “one’s own” except on the basis of some genuine effort or sacrifice. A gift of material goods can be appropriated by the recipient without effort or sacrifice; it therefore rarely becomes “his own”…This, then, should become the ever increasing preoccupation of aid programmes—to make men self reliant and independent by the generous supply of appropriate intellectual gifts".

Schumacher wrote Small is Beautiful at the dawn of African independence, when fledgling governments and their leaders looked boldly and optimistically towards a bright new future, free from the shackles of colonialism. Even then he saw the folly of imposing the solutions of the rich upon the poor and could have predicted the colossal failure of structural adjustment programs and large scale infrastructure projects, at the expense of the suitable empowerment of a largely uneducated population. The application of an approach equivalent to an African Marshall Plan and the moral bankruptcy of Africa’s elite kleptocracy have made Africa the only continent in an arguably worse position today than it was thirty years ago, despite trillions of dollars of investment.

In many ways, Schumacher’s ideas have even more relevance today, than during the time they were written. He is well worth a read.