TY - JOUR T1 - Books: <em>Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist</em> JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 392 LP - 393 DO - 10.3399/bjgp22X720401 VL - 72 IS - 721 AU - Ivy Mitchell AU - Andrew Papanikitas Y1 - 2022/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/72/721/392.abstract N2 - Kate Raworth Penguin, 2018, PB, 384pp, £10.99, 978-1847941398Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics is concerned with the question at the heart of economics: not only what to do about scarcity, but also with an equally profound basis for economics (attributed to the ancient Greek writer Xenophon no less!) — how to budget for a household. The household here is all of human society within the finite limits of planet earth. Raworth conceives of the problem as a doughnut (the American kind with a hole in the middle). The inner ring represents the needs of humanity. The outer ring represents the limits of human interference that the planet can sustain without damage. How might we ensure that, in a world of limited resources, every person has enough (the inner ring)? An economy existing outside of this ‘social foundation’ ring for all its people would signal that those goods are properly distributed and that the economy meets basic human needs of the individuals who live in it. However, Raworth’s model is concerned beyond the human needs hence the ring aimed at addressing planetary needs. This ecological ceiling signifies the rates of consumption that our planet can support. Staying within the outer ring is sustainable for the planet overall. An … ER -