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On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us
'The most important person you've never heard of' - The New York Times
'Partha Dasgupta provides the compass we urgently need… by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.’ - David Attenborough
'This is the best book in economics for a general reader since Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.' - Paul R Ehrlich
‘Imagine a football team which measures its success only on the basis of the goals it scores and doesn’t count the goals it concedes. That football team could be losing right through without recognising it…’
For as long as they have existed, our economic models have served us an incomplete picture.
The models and metrics tells us that our economies are healthy because they are growing. However, this doesn't account for the fact that our growth is driven by a resource that we take for free and treat as nature. For centuries we have been using it as if it were both, but we know now, more than ever, that our demand on the natural world is unsustainable. It's no longer sufficient to only see part of the picture; it's time that our economic models show us the whole thing.
In On Natural Capital, renowned Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta lays out a seminal and groundbreaking new approach to economics. Challenging everything that has come before, he asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else?
An urgent call to transform the focus and structures of global economics, On Natural Capital is a bold and groundbreaking book that could, truly, change everything.
'Partha Dasgupta provides the compass we urgently need… by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.’ - David Attenborough
'This is the best book in economics for a general reader since Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.' - Paul R Ehrlich
‘Imagine a football team which measures its success only on the basis of the goals it scores and doesn’t count the goals it concedes. That football team could be losing right through without recognising it…’
For as long as they have existed, our economic models have served us an incomplete picture.
The models and metrics tells us that our economies are healthy because they are growing. However, this doesn't account for the fact that our growth is driven by a resource that we take for free and treat as nature. For centuries we have been using it as if it were both, but we know now, more than ever, that our demand on the natural world is unsustainable. It's no longer sufficient to only see part of the picture; it's time that our economic models show us the whole thing.
In On Natural Capital, renowned Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta lays out a seminal and groundbreaking new approach to economics. Challenging everything that has come before, he asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else?
An urgent call to transform the focus and structures of global economics, On Natural Capital is a bold and groundbreaking book that could, truly, change everything.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2025
17 people are currently reading
311 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 23, 2025
I read through this extraordinary book twice! Crisp, well-reasoned, powerful prose from a distinguished scholar brings a fairly complex topic - the role of natural resources as a form of capital - to a broader audience.
The terrible reality is that, despite the compelling truth that the destruction of ecosystems carries enormous dangers, few in positions of power and influence think about the threat and even fewer are prepared to act.
Read this book!!
The terrible reality is that, despite the compelling truth that the destruction of ecosystems carries enormous dangers, few in positions of power and influence think about the threat and even fewer are prepared to act.
Read this book!!
August 31, 2025
Dasgupta argues that traditional economics overlooks nature as a form of capital. While GDP counts everything we produce, it ignores the depletion of natural assets like forests, clean air, water, and biodiversity—assets that are foundational to human well-being. This oversight makes economic growth appear stronger than it truly is.
Key Idea:
The “Inclusive Wealth” Paradigm
The book builds on concepts from his earlier Dasgupta Review (2021), which introduced the idea of “inclusive wealth”—a measure that sums produced capital, human capital, and natural capital—to assess sustainable prosperity, instead of solely focusing on GDP growth.
worldeconomicsassociation.org
Using tangible examples, Dasgupta illustrates the plight of economic misaccounting: for example, clearing a forest to build a shopping mall raises GDP, but GDP fails to deduct the loss of ecosystem services like carbon absorption, soil protection, and recreation.
Estimates show that between 1992–2014, produced capital per capita more than doubled, while natural capital per capita declined by about 40%.
Similarly, humanity currently uses natural resources at a rate requiring about 1.6 Earths—a clearly unsustainable pathway.
Recommendations for Change
1. Balance Demand and Supply of Nature
Ensure that societal demands don’t exceed the regenerative capacity of ecosystems. Policies could include expanding protected areas, encouraging sustainable diets, investing in nature-based solutions, and reducing ecologically harmful consumption.
2. Revamp Economic Metrics
Stop relying on GDP as the dominant measure of progress. Instead, adopt accounting systems that factor in natural capital—like inclusive wealth—to reflect true intergenerational sustainability.
worldeconomicsassociation.org
3. Reform Institutions
Transform financial systems, policymaking, and education to support nature-positive choices. This includes: Redirecting subsidies away from environmentally harmful activities. Creating payments or charges for global natural commons (e.g., fishing in the high seas, forest protection).Elevating nature in education to cultivate ecological sensibilities from a young age.
Key Idea:
The “Inclusive Wealth” Paradigm
The book builds on concepts from his earlier Dasgupta Review (2021), which introduced the idea of “inclusive wealth”—a measure that sums produced capital, human capital, and natural capital—to assess sustainable prosperity, instead of solely focusing on GDP growth.
worldeconomicsassociation.org
Using tangible examples, Dasgupta illustrates the plight of economic misaccounting: for example, clearing a forest to build a shopping mall raises GDP, but GDP fails to deduct the loss of ecosystem services like carbon absorption, soil protection, and recreation.
Estimates show that between 1992–2014, produced capital per capita more than doubled, while natural capital per capita declined by about 40%.
Similarly, humanity currently uses natural resources at a rate requiring about 1.6 Earths—a clearly unsustainable pathway.
Recommendations for Change
1. Balance Demand and Supply of Nature
Ensure that societal demands don’t exceed the regenerative capacity of ecosystems. Policies could include expanding protected areas, encouraging sustainable diets, investing in nature-based solutions, and reducing ecologically harmful consumption.
2. Revamp Economic Metrics
Stop relying on GDP as the dominant measure of progress. Instead, adopt accounting systems that factor in natural capital—like inclusive wealth—to reflect true intergenerational sustainability.
worldeconomicsassociation.org
3. Reform Institutions
Transform financial systems, policymaking, and education to support nature-positive choices. This includes: Redirecting subsidies away from environmentally harmful activities. Creating payments or charges for global natural commons (e.g., fishing in the high seas, forest protection).Elevating nature in education to cultivate ecological sensibilities from a young age.
October 22, 2025
‘On Natural Capital’ is a distillation of a report made by the author, economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, to the British government in 2021. As such, it dispenses with much of the minutiae. However, it is not dumbed down, as Dasgupta employs enough specificity and technicality to signal both the complexity of the topic and what he contends is the urgency of the moment we face with regards to our overuse of the biosphere’s finite resources. His case is therefore couched mostly in dry terms, although at the end he drills deeper than arguments rooted in utility function and resource management. Yet, for all that, this book still feels a little too ‘gutted’. I wonder if it may be a missed opportunity to speak to a broader public in a calm and humane way that unpacks our attitude towards (and our existential entanglement in) the natural world without the distractions of culture war tantrums and moralising hyperbole.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews