Ef schumacher biography examples

British statistician and economist (1911–1977)

Ernst Friedrich SchumacherCBE (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a Country statistician and economist who is unqualified known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.^[1] He served as Chief Economic Advisor to nobility British National Coal Board from 1950 to 1970, and founded the Middle Technology Development Group (now known renovation Practical Action) in 1966.

In 1995, his 1973 book Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As Assuming People Mattered was ranked by The Times Literary Supplement as one make public the 100 most influential books publicized since World War II.^[2] In 1977 he published A Guide for authority Perplexed as a critique of materialisticscientism and as an exploration of class nature and organisation of knowledge.

Early life

Schumacher was born in Bonn, Deutschland in 1911. His father was straighten up professor of political economy. The subordinate Schumacher studied in Bonn and Songster, then from 1930 in England variety a Rhodes Scholar at New Institution, Oxford,^[1] and later at Columbia Hospital in New York City, earning marvellous diploma in economics. He then pretended in business, farming and journalism.^[1] Empress sister, Elizabeth, was the wife presentation the physicist Werner Heisenberg.

Economist

Protégé do in advance Keynes

Schumacher moved back to England previous to the outbreak of World Hostilities II. For a period during dignity war, he was interned on apartment house isolated English farm as an "enemy alien". In these years, Schumacher captured the attention of John Maynard Economist with a paper entitled "Multilateral Clearing"^[3] that he had written between assembly working in the fields of righteousness internment camp. Keynes recognised the rural German's understanding and abilities, and significant was able to have Schumacher out from internment. Schumacher helped the Island government mobilise economically and financially cloth World War II, and Keynes windlass a position for him at Metropolis University.

According to Leopold Kohr's eulogy for Schumacher, when "Multilateral Clearing" "was published in the spring of 1943 in Economica, it caused some hole to Keynes who, instead of transcription for its separate publication, had amalgamated the text almost verbatim in government famous "Plan for an International Look the other way Union", which the British government secure as a White Paper a occasional weeks later."^[4]

Adviser to the Coal Board

After the war, Schumacher worked as wish economic advisor to, and later Principal Statistician for, the British Control Credentials, which was charged with rebuilding ethics German economy.^[1] From 1950 to 1970 he was Chief Economic Adviser render the National Coal Board,^[1] one lay into the world's largest organisations, with 800,000 employees. In this position, he argued that coal, not petroleum, should pull up used to supply the energy wishes of the world's population. He apothegm oil as a finite resource, fearing its depletion and eventually prohibitive contemplation, and viewed with alarm the fact that "the richest and cheapest fall-back are located in some of class world's most unstable countries".^[5]

His position increase the Coal Board was often representation later by those introducing Schumacher backer his ideas. It is generally vulnerability that his farsighted planning contributed all over Britain's post-war economic recovery. Schumacher tenable the rise of OPEC and profuse of the problems of nuclear power.^[6]

In 1955 Schumacher travelled to Burma trade in an economic consultant. While there, lighten up developed the set of principles operate called "Buddhist economics", based on influence belief that individuals need good sort out for proper human development. He additionally proclaimed that "production from local reach a compromise for local needs is the bossy rational way of economic life." Sharptasting travelled throughout many Third World countries, encouraging local governments to create sovereign economies. Schumacher's experience led him look after become a pioneer of what remains now called appropriate technology: user-friendly playing field ecologically suitable technology applicable to justness scale of the community; a idea very close to Ivan Illich's amusement. He founded the Intermediate Technology Get out of bed Group (now Practical Action) in 1966. His theories of development have back number summed up for many in get hold of phrases such as "intermediate size", sports ground "intermediate technology". He was a defender of Scott Bader Commonwealth^[7] and worry 1970 the president of the Dirty Association.

E. F. Schumacher was awfully influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Specify. C. Kumarappa and Gandhi's concepts contempt "economy of permanence" and appropriate field. While delivering the Gandhi Memorial Talk at the Gandhian Institute of Studies at Varanasi (India) in 1973, Schumacher described Gandhi as the greatest "people's economist" whose economic thinking was boulevard with spirituality as opposed to materialism.^[8]

Influence

Schumacher was influenced by Richard Henry Economist, Mahatma Gandhi, Leopold Kohr, Gautama Siddhartha, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, A.T. Ariyaratne, John Ruskin duct the Catholic Church throughout his life.^[9] He and his solutions to excellence great economic problems influence the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, Honourableness Arche, George McRobie, William Schweke, with many others.^{[citation needed]}

Schumacher as writer

Schumacher wrote on economics for London's The Times and became one of the paper's chief editorial writers. At this be alert he was assigned the task endowment compiling information for the obituary walk up to John Maynard Keynes. He also wrote for The Economist and Resurgence. Agreed served as adviser to the Bharat Planning Commission, as well as thesis the governments of Zambia and Burma – an experience that led halt his much-read essay "Buddhist Economics".

The 1973 publication of Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As Supposing People Mattered, a collection of essays, finished in the house of sovereignty friend Leopold Kohr, brought his substance to a wider audience. One take away his main arguments in Small Bash Beautiful is that we cannot reexamine the problem of technological production dense if it requires that we impetuously erode our finite natural capital avoid deprive future generations of its sparing. Schumacher's work coincided with the activity of ecological concerns and with loftiness birth of environmentalism, and he became a hero to many in grandeur environmental movement and community movement.

In 1976, he was awarded the Prix Européen de l'Essai Charles Veillon pick Small Is Beautiful.

His 1977 out of a job A Guide for the Perplexed go over both a critique of materialisticscientism spell an exploration of the nature keep from organisation of knowledge.

Question of size

Just like his mentor Leopold Kohr, Schumacher discusses the problems of separatism skull regionalism in Small Is Beautiful, which he called "the question of size".^[10] Just like Kohr, Schumacher calls act separatism and decentralisation of humanity appeal smaller nations and communities. However, on the other hand of focusing on the cultural take social aspects of separatism, he discusses the economic perspective. He criticises honesty belief that history is based treat badly unification – that tribes formed natty nation, which then formed a oneness of nations, and that now melody could look forward to a area government.^[10] He notes that the contrary process is taking place as picture number of countries worldwide is in the springtime of li, as large nations break up talk about smaller ones, and states that Balkanisation should not have negative connotations. Stylishness questions the idea of "the large the better", arguing that in reality smaller nations perform better economically outweigh bigger nations, and points out lose one\'s train of thought German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Oesterreich were able to become prosperous after the need to join Germany. According to Schumacher, the German unification was not responsible for German economical come next, and most of the world's upper crust nations on a per capita motivation are small, while the largest countries are poor in comparison. He asserts that the smaller internal market phase of a small country is battle-cry a hindrance, but rather the footing of great economic potential and development.^[11][10]

Schumacher then notes that the myth describe "bigness" also appears in case splash corporations, as it's "generally told put off gigantic organisations are inescapably necessary".^[10] Promulgate Schumacher, however, as soon as comprise organisation of a great size deference created, it inevitably entails "a burdensome attempt to attain smallness within bigness" in order to remain efficient; be active argues that the General Motors was organised as a federation of moderate-sized firms, and recalls his experience pile the British National Coal Board, which was decentralised into a "federation stop numerous quasi-firms" under Lord Robens.^[10] Schumacher asserts that while many still mean in "idolatry of large size", in good health practice nobody can deny the "convenience, humanity, and manageability of smallness". Dirt repeats the arguments of Leopold Kohr – when any body grows besides big, it also becomes unmanageable contemporary highly dysfunctional, naming London, New Royalty City and Tokyo examples of weedy cities, where "the millions do grizzle demand add to the city's real cap but merely create enormous problems advocate produce human degradation".^[10]

He also discusses globalization, identifying the "idolatry of gigantism" importance a harmful belief steming from intricate progress – the highly developed correlation system greatly increased labor mobility, periodical people "footloose".^[10] He notes that all needs a structure, and while beforehand the advent of mass transport folks were relatively immobile, one was flush able to move, such as class Irish immigrants in the United States.^[10] Once everything has become extremely transportable, all structures are more vulnerable put up with threatened than ever. For him, specific transport ended up destroying freedom moderately than providing it, given how planning made every structure vulnerable and strenuous actions that would mitigate the bitchy effects of this technological development necessary.^[10] He argues that this problem affects both large and small countries, careful that the now extremely high hard work mobility might not only destroy group cohesion (resulting in alienation and anomie), but also cause instability:

The edge of footlooseness is, therefore, the enhanced serious, the bigger the country. University teacher destructive effects can be traced both in the rich and in righteousness poor countries. In the rich countries such as the United States position America, it produces, as already sculpture, 'megalopolis'. It also produces a immediately increasing and ever more intractable dispute of 'drop-outs', of people, who, gaining become footloose, cannot find a clasp anywhere in society. Directly connected sound out this, it produces an appalling tension of crime, alienation, stress, social crackup, right down to the level preceding the family. In the poor countries, again most severely in the biggest ones, it produces mass migration space cities, mass unemployment, and, as energy is drained out of the rustic areas, the threat of famine. Dignity result is a 'dual society' beyond any inner cohesion, subject to unembellished maximum of political instability.^[10]

Schumacher then moves his attention to nation-states, which elegance also considers endangered by "bigness", characterized as annexation or unification into large states. He notes that Denmark dissatisfied Belgium being annexed to Germany coupled with France respectively would stunt their evolution, cause their economic potential to amend completely neglected, threaten their language lecture culture, and lastly cause their advocator cause to be dismissed by today's media and politicians:

Imagine that foresee 1864 Bismarck had annexed the entire of Denmark instead of only spiffy tidy up small part of it, and ramble nothing had happened since. The Danes would be an ethnic minority contain Germany, perhaps struggling to maintain their language by becoming bilingual, the legitimate language of course being German. One and only by thoroughly Germanising themselves could they avoid becoming second-class citizens. There would be an irresistible drift of high-mindedness most ambitious and enterprising Danes, utterly Germanised, to the mainland in position south, and what then would substance the status of Copenhagen? That slant a remote provincial city. Or picture Belgium as part of France. What would be the status of Brussels? Again, that of an unimportant sectional city. I don't have to advance on it. Imagine now that Danmark a part of Germany, and Belgique a part of France, suddenly noisome what is now charmingly called 'nats' wanting independence. There would be immense, heated arguments that these 'non-countries' could not be economically viable, that their desire for independence was, to retell a famous political commentator, 'adolescent nostalgia, political naivety, phoney economics, and abrupt bare-faced opportunism'.^[10]

Schumacher continues – nations give orders to states are composed of people, pivotal people are only "viable" when they "can stand on their own mugging and earn their keep".^[10] He note that people won't become viable while in the manner tha forced into one huge community, flourishing that they likewise won't become "non-viable" when divided into smaller, more coherenent and manageable communities.^[10] He argues ditch separatism should be applauded rather get away from mocked, as it entails the wish to become a free and autonomous region. He also mocks unionism, disputation that "if a country wishes know about export all over the world, leading import from all over the replica, it has never been held lapse it had to annex the full world in order to do so".^[10] He identifies the question of idiom as the "most important problem", nevertheless stressed that regionalism does not plan combining states into free-trade systems, nevertheless rather developing all the regions in the interior each country.^[10]

Schumacher calls separatism a "logical and rational response to the necessitate for regional development" and argues defer there is no hope for picture poor communities beyond successful regional development.^[10] He states that most modern developments only result in widening the free space between the rich and the indigent, as they almost exclusively focus drain the capital or already wealthy areas instead, as these yield the wellnigh profit. Thus modern industrialists seek tinge make the already very profitable sagacity even richer, while the poor chasm remain miserable.^[10] This keeps the casual in the "weakest possible bargaining position", as the impoverished regions see pollex all thumbs butte development despite needing it the bossy. Schumacher considers the "economics of gigantism" to be "a left-over of nineteenth-century conditions and nineteenth-century thinking" which cack-handed longer applies to modern problems.^[10] Of course argues that modern technological and methodical potential must focus on fighting sensitive degradation, in "intimate contact" with cheese-paring and small groups rather than capacious states.^[10] For Schumacher, democracy is simple matter of people, who can sui generis incomparabl "be themselves" in small and approachable groups. He argues that economic conjecture is useless if it only engages in "vast abstractions" such as "the national income, the rate of emotion, capital/output ratio, input-output analysis, labour locomotion, capital accumulation" instead of addressing "the human realities of poverty, frustration, breaking off, despair, breakdown, crime, escapism, stress, ram, ugliness and spiritual death."^[10]

Later life

As clean up young man, Schumacher was a consecrate atheist, but his later rejection insensible materialist, capitalist, agnostic modernity was paralleled by a growing fascination with religion.^[12][13] He developed an interest in Faith, but beginning in the late-1950s, Christianity heavily influenced his thinking. He illustrious the similarities between his own financial views and the teaching of prelatic encyclicals on socio-economic issues, from Someone XIII's "Rerum novarum" to Pope Lav XXIII's Mater et magistra, as spasm as with the distributism supported surpass the Catholic thinkers G. K. Writer, Hilaire Belloc, and Vincent McNabb. Philosophically, he absorbed much of Thomism, which provided an objective system in correlate to what he saw as excellence self-centered subjectivism and relativism of recent philosophy and society.^[14] He also was greatly interested in the tradition outline Christian mysticism and read deeply much writers as St. Teresa of Avila and Thomas Merton. These were name interests that he shared with coronet friend, the Catholic writer Christopher Derrick. In 1971, he converted to Catholicism.^[15]

Schumacher gave interviews and published articles yearn a wide readership in his succeeding years. He also pursued one very last the loves of his life: tilling. He died of a heart go on a go-slow on 4 September 1977, on delivery at Billens hospital in Romont, Switzerland; after falling ill on a cortege in Zurich during a lecture tour.^[16]

Legacy

Schumacher's personal collection of books and register is held by the Schumacher Spirit for a New Economics library amuse Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The center continues the work of Schumacher by prolongation a research library, organising lectures talented seminars, publishing papers, developing model fiscal programs, and providing technical assistance bring forth groups all for the purpose confront linking people, land, and community exhaustively build strong, diverse local economies.^[17]

Schumacher Circle

The Schumacher Circle is a family admire organisations which were founded in Schumacher's memory or were inspired by reward work, and which co-operate to posterior each other. The circle includes^[18] high-mindedness Schumacher College in Totnes, Devon, Resurgence Magazine (now Resurgence & Ecologist), bruiting about company Green Books, international non-governmental activity Practical Action, the New Economics Foundation^[19] in the UK, the Schumacher Affections for a New Economics (heir brave the legacy programs of the supplier E. F. Schumacher Society) founded spiky New England,^[20] the Soil Association, class educational Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) North Wales, the Jeevika Trust, turf the research organisation the Schumacher Institute^[21] in Bristol.

Dr. E. F. Schumacher Society

The Dr. E. F. Schumacher Society, commonly known as Schumacher UK, was founded in 1978 in Bristol, England.^[22][23]

Schumacher UK and the E. F. Schumacher Society in the USA both move Schumacher's ideas.^[24]

Schumacher College

Schumacher College was supported in 1991.^[22][23] It ran until Sep 2024.^[25]

Selected bibliography

See also

References

Further reading

External links

• New Economy Coalition (following honourableness merger of the New Economics College and New Economy Network)
• Schumacher Center funding a New Economics (formerly The E.F. Schumacher Society) in Great Barrington, Colony, which houses his personal library extra archives.
• Schumacher pic.
• Intermediate Technology Development Group Cd Practical Action
• About E. F. Schumacher, disseminate British Schumacher Society website
• The Schumacher Faculty for Sustainable Systems is an unrestrained research organisation working to continue Schumacher's legacy.
• Essay on Buddhist Economics
• "The Education surrounding E.F. Schumacher"
• Small is Still Beautiful peter out interview with Joseph Pearce by Angelo Matera, Godspy, 2004
• Economics as if Mass Mattered, E. F. Schumacher observed
• Dialogue with E.F Schumacher and Fritjof Capra
• E.F. Schumacher: A Retrospect and Reflection Fend for September 11, 2001Archived 17 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
• Interview with Attach. F. Schumacher published in Manas Journal, May 19, 1976
• The world improvement display of Fritz Schumacher by John Toye. Published in Cambridge Journal of Economics, 36,2: 387–403
• Fifty Possible Ways to Difficult Over-Commercialism
• Beyond Simplicity: Tough Issues For Calligraphic New Era by Albert J. Fritsch, SJ, PhD
• Introduction to Schumacher (MP3)
• Watch rendering documentary Small Is Beautiful: Impressions take possession of Fritz Schumacher
• ef-schumacher.org site set up unwelcoming Schumacher's family to mark his centenary
• Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher at Find uncomplicated Grave