Simon Mair
@simonmair.bsky.social
Ecological economist trying to think & do economics differently. Paid work: research/ teaching on systems thinking, productivity, value, postgrowth. Unpaid work: mostly parenting. Cross cutting: screaming into the void. Substack: ecolpolecon.substack.com/
It's driving me insane. The govt spends £1.4 trillion a year. Borrowing estimates are often by tens of billions over a year. But we're supposed to imagine money is budgeted to the last penny.
Karl Whelan@karlwhelan.bsky.social · 4w agoChrist almighty. The British obsession with itemized “pay fors” for everything is insane. This is just really not how fiscal policy or government works anywhere functional.
As Ed Miliband leaves his post as energy and net-zero secretary, a final tally: There have been an incredible 251 newspaper editorials attacking him and his approach to net-zero since the start of 2024 That amounts to two editorials a week, mainly in the Sun, Daily Mail, Times and Daily Telegraph.
I read Andy Burnham's first speech as prime minister from an Ecological Economics perspective. Some of it is great: backtracking from neoloberalism, rhetoric of new economics, helping people live well. What's notable is what's missing. open.substack.com/pub/ecolpole...
Life’s Essentials, Earth’s Limits: Hope and omissions in Burnhams economic vision.
Lots to like, with some very notable missing pieces.
open.substack.com
All I hear is news about fires burning, temperatures rising, heatwave deaths increasing and climate change happening far faster than scientists expected. Yet politicians, newspapers and trade union leaders like Sharon Graham are calling for more oil and gas extraction.
If I automated my job, I would expect either to be let go, or given more work to do. Both dynamics shape fears around AI. In my latest substack I find hope for a different future of work, in my toddlers favourite book: poo in the zoo. open.substack.com/pub/ecolpole... #work #ai #economics
What is wrong with "work" under capitalism?💰 That is the question @simonmair.bsky.social explored in his fascinating talk yesterday. He argued that work can be re-oriented away from earning a wage and driving profits, into a tool to solve our biggest social and environmental challenges. 🌎
We fear losing work, yet we dread the work we have! 😢 Join ecological economist @simonmair.bsky.social as he explores how we can reimagine work to help us achieve our environmental and social goals. 📅 7 July 🕔 5-7pm 📍 The Diamond - Lecture Theatre 6 🎟️ Book your free ticket 👉 tinyurl.com/yzak9bye
How refreshing, a radical plan for implementing a more genuine global sustainability: ‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival
Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions
theguardian.com
I was recently interviewed by @voiceofislamuk.bsky.social for a guardians of the earth segment. Great questions: is capitalism compatible w/environmental protection? What are planetary boundaries? What can we do about all this? Audio & my notes on sub stack: ecolpolecon.substack.com/p/guardians-...
What Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations can teach us about today’s failed energy transitions—Blog by @simonmair.bsky.social → cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/... cc #postgrowth #degrowth #capitalism #EnergyTransition #PoliticalEconomy
What Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations can teach us about today’s failed energy transitions | Blog by Simon Mair
Despite three decades of COP climate talks and a boom in renewables, global emissions continue to rise. In this blog, CUSP researcher Simon Mair shows how A ...
cusp.ac.uk
Weird how things travel: I didn't expect a write up of a paper that re-reads Adam Smith from an ecological economics point of view to be published in a mens magazine! goodmenproject.com/featured-con...
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
New CUSP research identifies how to make #postgrowth work globally: financial transfers from North to South + international cooperation. The PADME model shows this prevents debt, inflation & unemployment in the South. → cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/... #Postgrowth #Degrowth #GlobalJustice
Post-growth and the North-South divide: A stock-flow consistent scenario analysis | Journal paper
An unregulated post-growth transition in the North can cause crises in the South: debt, inflation, unemployment. That's the finding of a new paper by D ...
cusp.ac.uk
What does Gareth Southgate get wrong about young men, masculinity & futures of work? The crisis of masculinity requires a reckoning with capitalism, a broadening of what masculinity can be, and industrial policy delivering good work. Not more vocational training and fetishisation of manual labour
We invite papers that help us use humanity's deep past to build a more sustainable future. Submissions start1 September. If you have an idea for a paper, reach out to one of the guest editors! link.springer.com/collections/... @simonmair.bsky.social @jlmunson.bsky.social
Developing archaeological method and theory for investigating economic growth and degrowth
Economic growth is often considered one of the most powerful forces in human history, and is regularly cited as a driver of ecological, political and ...
link.springer.com
Working is often unpleasant, but we fear being without it, and it is something many of us find important. In a blogpost for the MEND* Network, we explore the paradoxical role that work plays in many of our lives. mendnetwork.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/t... *Management Educators Navigating Degrowth
The Paradox of Work
Published by the Management Educators Navigating Degrowth (MEND) collective, with Simon Mair as lead author. Work occupies a paradoxical role in many of our lives: can’t live with it, can’t live wi…
mendnetwork.wordpress.com
It's time to talk about emissions and growth again. Certain people got very excited about a substantial number of wealthy nations decoupled growth from carbon. This is good news. But: global emissions grew 2023-2024, and almost certainly grew again in 2025.
Pleased to see this paper now published - in it, I examine the status of Keynes as a post-growth economist www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Keynes as a post-growth economist
Some key aspects of J.M. Keynes's economics are reassessed, showing how they fit with and can add to a modern post-growth economics. While Keynes favo…
sciencedirect.com
Archaeologists! Considering joining @simonmair.bsky.social and I at the European Society for Ecological Economics conference in Ghent to provide examples of "non-capitalist economies" that we can use to learn about sustainability.
Simon Mair@simonmair.bsky.social · 9mo agoCall for abstracts: Learning from Non-Capitalist Economies. Deadline 19th December. Details here: esee2026ghent.be/wp-content/u... Abstracts will form sessions at the 16th Biennial Conference of the European Society of Ecological Economics in Ghent. More details th thread below:
Call for abstracts: Learning from Non-Capitalist Economies. Deadline 19th December. Details here: esee2026ghent.be/wp-content/u... Abstracts will form sessions at the 16th Biennial Conference of the European Society of Ecological Economics in Ghent. More details th thread below:
esee2026ghent.be
Communities need used-book shops. As the trends in our world are increasingly standardized and entrenched by "predictive" technologies that stifle innovation and reduce human actions into economic categories... We need a full range of possibilities for readers and communities to explore and share.
A thread of thoughts on epistemology and making change, sparked by our latest WISE Horizons future lab, hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee. 1/8 wisehorizons.world
