Tim Jackson’s work begins with a difficult question: what would prosperity mean if economic growth could no longer be treated as its measure? A British ecological economist and professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey, Jackson has investigated the links between consumption, social wellbeing and environmental limits for more than 25 years. His writing, research and public work have made the case for judging economic success by more than the volume of goods and services produced.

From Cambridge to ecological economics

Born on 4 June 1957, Jackson studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge, which he joined in 1976. His academic work centres on ecological economics: the study of how economic systems interact with the natural environment. Over the course of his career he has worked internationally on sustainable consumption and production, approaching those subjects through research, policy advice and public communication.

In the early 1990s he spent five years at the Stockholm Environment Institute. There he developed work on preventative environmental management, which he set out in Material Concerns: Pollution, Profit and Quality of Life, published in 1996. The book brought pollution, economic activity and quality of life into a shared frame of analysis, anticipating questions that would remain central to his later work.

Jackson’s academic appointments have followed several connected lines of enquiry. From 1995 to 2000 he held an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council fellowship on the thermodynamics of clean technologies. A professorial research fellowship from 2003 to 2005 examined the social psychology of sustainable consumption. From 2006 to 2011 he directed the Economic and Social Research Council research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment; between 2010 and 2014 he also directed the Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group. These projects reflect a recurring interest in how habits and social expectations shape environmental effects, and how they might change.

What prosperity means beyond growth

Jackson’s best-known book, Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, grew out of his work as Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission. Published in 2009, it brought together evidence and arguments about economic growth, environmental crises and social recession. Jackson’s central distinction is between growth as an economic measure and prosperity as a wider human condition: in his account, prosperity in any meaningful sense goes beyond material concerns.

The book questions whether continued expansion can be relied upon to improve wellbeing in affluent economies, and examines the environmental costs and social pressures associated with the pursuit of growth. Rather than treating prosperity as simply more consumption, Jackson argues for reconsidering what contributes to people’s lives and how economic success is measured. The book proposes a route towards a sustainable economy and asks how institutions might respond when growth is no longer a sufficient guide to social progress.

Prosperity Without Growth was substantially revised in 2017 as Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow. The work has been translated into 17 languages. Its publication also gave Jackson’s research a public and policy-facing dimension: the debate it opened concerns not only environmental economics, but the choices governments and societies make about work, consumption and the purposes of economic activity.

Research, advice and public discussion

Jackson’s policy work includes his service as Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission, established in 2000 and closed in 2011. His report on prosperity and growth later became the basis for his 2009 book. The commission placed his research in a specifically British policy setting, where questions about sustainable development could be considered alongside decisions about the direction of the national economy.

At the University of Surrey, Jackson directs the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), a multidisciplinary international research consortium. Its remit is to examine the economic, social and political dimensions of sustainable prosperity. His research has also addressed lifestyles and consumption through groups and programmes he founded or directed, including RESOLVE and the Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group. From 2013 to 2017, he held an Economic and Social Research Council professorial fellowship on prosperity and sustainability in the green economy.

Jackson has taken part in public discussion as well as academic research. In 2005, the Sustainable Development Research Network published his review, Motivating Sustainable Consumption. In 2006 and 2007 he advised and regularly contributed to BBC Newsnight’s Ethical Man series. His work has also considered how economic models might represent environmental and social outcomes: with Peter Victor of York University in Toronto, he has developed stock-flow consistent macroeconomic models exploring whether those outcomes can improve as growth slows towards zero.

A writer across economics and the arts

Alongside economics, Jackson has written for BBC radio. His 30-episode environmental drama series Cry of the Bittern won a Public Awareness of Science Drama Award in 1997. The Language of Flowers, a drama documentary about the poet Christopher Smart, received the 2004 Prix Marulić. His play Variations, written around a Beethoven sonata, won the Grand Prix Marulić in 2007 and was longlisted for the 2008 Sony Awards.

This work in drama sits alongside, rather than replacing, his academic writing. His books include Material Concerns and Prosperity Without Growth; later publications include Post Growth—Life after Capitalism (2021) and The Care Economy (2025). In 2016 he received the Hillary Laureate for exceptional mid-career leadership. His career connects economic research to public debate through books, policy work, broadcasting and drama, each offering a different way to examine how people live within environmental limits.

Why Tim Jackson deserves a place in British Legacy

Tim Jackson belongs in British Legacy because his contribution is both intellectual and institutional. As Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission, he brought questions about prosperity and growth into a British public-policy setting. His report became Prosperity Without Growth, a book that asks whether economic expansion is a dependable measure of wellbeing and how an economy might respond to ecological limits. That argument matters because it challenges decision-makers to distinguish rising output from improvements in people’s lives, rather than assuming the two are identical.

His influence is also visible in the sustained research infrastructure he has helped build. At Surrey, CUSP brings together work on the economic, social and political dimensions of sustainable prosperity; his earlier research groups examined lifestyles, values and consumption. His publications, policy activity and BBC contributions have carried those questions beyond specialist economics, while his radio dramas show a parallel commitment to communicating ideas through creative work. Together, these achievements make his British connection specific: Jackson has developed research, served a UK commission and contributed to public discussion from British academic and broadcasting institutions. His work offers a framework for examining how prosperity might be made compatible with human wellbeing and a finite environment—not a finished prescription, but a continuing challenge to how economic success is defined.

Sources

Tim Jackson (economist), revision 1379650268

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