The Deficit Myth
Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy
The definitive popular introduction to Modern Monetary Theory. Kelton explains why sovereign currency issuers face no purely financial constraints on ...
Heterodox Economics Reading List
Books that challenge mainstream economic thinking — ecological, post-growth, and beyond.
Showing 24 of 29 books
The Crash Course
The Unsustainable Future of Our Economy, Energy, and Environment
A systems analysis showing how the economy, energy, and environment are interconnected, arguing that exponential growth in debt-based economies is fun...
Making Money
Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism
A historical analysis of money as a constitutional project rather than a natural market phenomenon, with implications for understanding modern monetar...
The Uninhabitable Earth
Life After Warming
A detailed catalog of the potential impacts of unchecked climate change, from extreme weather to economic collapse, arguing for urgent and radical act...
Oil, Power, and War
A Dark History
A sweeping history of oil's central role in shaping the modern world, from the late 19th century to today, including the geopolitical implications of ...
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Soft Currency Economics II
The Origin of Modern Monetary Theory
The original work laying out MMT's core insights about sovereign currency issuers, taxes as demand management rather than revenue, and the fundamental...
Macroeconomics
The first comprehensive macroeconomics textbook from an MMT perspective, covering unemployment, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and exchange rates thr...
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Reclaiming the Commons
Bicycles, Bread, and the Birth of Democracy
Stories and analysis of commons-based initiatives worldwide, from seed-sharing networks to community land trusts, showing how commoning works in pract...
The Care Manifesto
The Politics of Interdependence
A call to place care at the center of political and economic life, arguing that the pandemic revealed how dependent we are on essential workers and so...
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The Case for Degrowth
A comprehensive introduction to degrowth as a concrete proposal for restructuring society, reducing inequality and working hours while enhancing well-...
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Ours to Hack and to Own
The Rise of Platform Cooperativism
An exploration of alternatives to platform capitalism, where workers and users own and democratically govern the digital platforms they depend on.
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Prosperity Without Growth
Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow
The definitive work on post-growth economics. Jackson argues that prosperity in rich countries does not require economic growth, outlining a vision of...
Capitalist Realism
Is There No Alternative?
A cultural and political analysis of how neoliberal capitalism has colonized consciousness, making alternatives seem impossible. Fisher argues this "r...
H
How Will Capitalism End?
Essays on a Failing System
A series of essays arguing that capitalism is facing multiple crises (economic, political, social) that it cannot resolve, leading to a long period of...
Peeking at Peak Oil
A scientific analysis of oil depletion and the coming peak in global oil production, with implications for economic growth and societal organization.
Less is More
How Degrowth Will Save the World
Hickel argues that the root cause of our ecological crisis is capitalism's relentless growth imperative, and that degrowth offers a path to ecological...
Bullshit Jobs
A Theory
An exploration of jobs that are pointless by design, arguing that the rise of such jobs reflects a spiritual malaise in capitalism and a misallocation...
Doughnut Economics
Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
A radical rethink of economic theory, proposing a visual framework that keeps human activity within social and planetary boundaries. Raworth challenge...
How to Pay for the Green New Deal
An MMT analysis of how to finance large-scale climate transition, arguing that sovereign currency issuers can mobilize resources through targeted spen...
Free, Fair and Alive
The Insurgent Power of the Commons
A comprehensive vision of the commons as a paradigm for living differently, emphasizing peer governance, ecological stewardship, and shared resources ...
Postcapitalism
A Guide to Our Future
Mason argues that information technology is undermining the price mechanism and creating conditions for a postcapitalist economy based on abundance ra...
Ministry for the Future
A near-future novel imagining how the world might actually address climate change, exploring carbon coins, eco-terrorism, geoengineering, and institut...
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
A sweeping anthropological history of debt and money, arguing that credit systems predate coinage and that debt has been a fundamental organizing prin...
Energy and the Wealth of Nations
An Introduction to Biophysical Economics
A foundational text arguing that standard economics ignores the biophysical basis of economic activity, particularly energy return on investment (EROI...