Michael Jacobs
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Publications

Recent writing and audio 


Podcasts 

Lessons in power: what can the new Labour government learn from the last one?
A SPERI Presents podcast 
July 2024

Books 

Prosperity and Justice:
A Plan for the New Economy

The Final Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice
IPPR / Polity  September 2018

Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
co-edited with Mariana Mazzucato
​
Wiley Blackwell  August 2016

Reports, essays, lectures and papers

International development and climate finance: the new agenda
(with Bianca Getzel and Sarah Colenbrander )
ODI report  June 2024

​After neoliberalism: Economic policy and politics in the polycrisis
Political Quarterly  2 February 2024

Bretton Woods 2.0 and a New Marshall Plan?
CEBRI Journal  December 2023
​
Taking stock of Just Energy Transition Partnerships (with Nick Simpson and Archie Gilmour)  ODI briefing paper  December 2023

In tandem: The case for coordinated economic policy making (with Robert Calvert Jump, Jo Michell and Frank van Lerven)
Fabian Society pamphlet  November 2023

Labour, left and right:
On party positioning and policy reasoning

(with Andrew Hindmoor)
Peer-reviewed paper

British Journal of Politics and International Relations  June 2022

Reflections on COP26: International diplomacy, global justice and the greening of capitalism
Political Quarterly, April-June 2022

Green growth, degrowth or post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate
(with Xhulia Likaj and Thomas Fricke)

Forum for a New Economy  18 May 2022

Beyond growth:
towards a new economic approach

Report of the Advisory Group to the OECD Secretary-General
OECD  September 2020
​
Ideas and Power: Reflections on Politics, Environmental Crisis and Economic Paradigm Shifts
Inaugural Lecture
SPERI, University of Sheffield
May 2019

Paradigm shifts in economic
theory and policy 

(with Laurie Laybourn-Langton)
Intereconomics  May-June 2018

Time for Change:
A New Vision for the British Economy

The Interim Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice
IPPR  September 2017

Industrial strategy: steering structural change in the UK economy
(with Izzy Hatfield, Loren King, Luke Raikes and Alfie Stirling)
IPPR Commission on Economic Justice
discussion paper
  November 2016


Moving beyond neoliberalism: an assessment of the economic systems change movement in the UK
(with Laurie Laybourn-Langton)

Friends Provident Foundation, October 2017 

Out of shape: taking the pulse of the UK economy (with Alfie Stirling and Catherine Colebrook)
Institute for Public Policy Research 
November 2016
​

High pressure for low emissions: how civil society created the Paris climate agreement
Juncture  14 March  2016
(also published by 
Inside Story  23 March  2016)
​
Ensuring new infrastructure is climate-smart 
(with James Rydge and Ilmi Granoff)
 New Climate Economy Working Paper
October  2015

Seizing the global opportunity: partnerships for better growth and a better climate [editor and co-lead author] 
The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate  July 2015 

Better growth, better climate: the new climate economy report 
[co-lead author]

The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate
  September 2014

A new politics: why we need collaboration between the Greens and Labour
Resurgence  Nov-Dec 2013 (also published here)

Explaining radical policy change: the case of climate change and energy policy under the British Labour Government 2006-10 (with Neil Carter)
Public Administration  August 2013

Beyond the social market: rethinking capitalism and public policy
Political Quarterly  Vol 84 No 1, January-March 2013

Green social democracy
Fabian Review  Winter 2012  (reprinted by the New Statesman  18 January 2013)

Environmental and climate change policy: a case study in preventative action
Prevention Working Paper
New Economics Foundation
January 2013

Less pain, more gain: the potential of carbon pricing to reduce Europe's fiscal deficits  (with John Ward et al)
Grantham Research Institute Policy Paper, London School of Economics  November 2012

Green growth: economic theory and political discourse
Grantham Research Institute Working Paper, London School of Economics  October 2012

The practical politics of wellbeing
New Economics Foundation pamphlet
November 2011

Leveraging private investment: the role of public sector finance  Overseas Development Institute Background Note  April 2011 


Articles, etc
​
Labour’s economic agenda has all the right ideas – but it’s a race against time to make it work  Guardian  2 January 2025

Neither triumph nor Trumped
Inside Story  25 November 2024

Who governs the climate?
Inside Story  21 November 2024

A shift in the climate for COP29
Inside Story  10 November 2024

The new development and climate
finance agenda

ODI blog,  21 June 2024
​
​
Down the drain
Inside Story  4 May 2024
​

The world economy is in crisis again. If we look back 80 years we might be able to fix it
Guardian  4 January 2024

Bretton Woods 2.0 and a New Marshall Plan?
CEBRI Journal  December 2023

The beginning of the end
Inside Story, 14 December 2023

The financial road to Rio
ODI blog, 13 December 2023

Hot air, cold reality, warm feelings
Inside Story, 9 December 2023

Scaling up just energy transitions through country sector platforms (with Nick Simpson and Archie Gilmour)  ODI blog, 5 December 2023

Big deal in Dubai
Inside Story, 1 December 2023

From net zero to rock bottom
Inside Story, 25 September 2023

The second coming of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Inside Story, 22 September 2023

Summit of ambitions
Inside Story, 24 June 2023

Where's the climate action?
Inside Story, 5 June 2023

Banking on Banga
Inside Story, 18 April 2023
​

​Circuses have evolved and so must UN climate summits
Climate Home News, 5 February 2023

​​A Keir Starmer government might be more radical than you think
Guardian, 4 January 2022

Agreement by ordeal
Inside Story, 22 November 2022
​

Keynes comes to Sharm el-Sheik
Inside Story, 16 November 2022

What exactly is the point of COP27?
Inside Story, 4 November 2022

Rishi Redux
Inside Story, 26 October 2022
​

Liz Truss dreams of growth - but even if she pulls it off, it won't help Britain
Guardian, 10 October 2022

The Truss effect
Inside Story, 8 October 2022

​Trouble at the OECD
Inside Story, 29 September 2022
​

This 'mini-Budget' is a naked exercise in redistributing wealth upwards
Guardian, 23 September 2022

Who is Liz Truss - and why?
Inside Story, 5 September 2022
​
Thatcherite mythology: eight Tory leadership candidates in search of an economic policy 

LSE British Politics and Policy blog, 13 July 2022

​
The latest Bank of England rate rise won't do much to tackle inflation - here's what could work
The Conversation, 17 June 2022

Have we reached the limits to growth?
(with Xhulia Likaj)
Project Syndicate, 18 May 2022

Sustainable prosperity in an uncertain future: A shared agenda between green growth and degrowth
(with Jonathan Barth)
Heinrich Boell Stiftung, 18April 2022

Rishi Sunak and the politics of taxation
SPERI blog, 5 April 2022

Green capitalists and green anti-capitalists are on the same side - for now
Political Quarterly blog, 14 February 2022
​
The case for a UK windfall tax on oil and gas giants is unanswerable
Guardian  11 February 2022

Why cynicism over COP26 is misplaced
Political Quarterly blog, 7 February 2022

In an act of brazen treachery, Rishi Sunak is sabotaging Johnson's policies
Guardian  ​​22 December 2021

Glasgow kiss
Inside Story  ​​15 November 2021

"System change not climate change!"
Inside Story  ​​9 November 2021

Closing the Glasgow gap 
Inside Story  ​​4 November 2021
​

The Glasgow paradox
Inside Story  ​​27 October 2021

Between the idea and the reality
Inside Story  ​​14 October 2021

Boris Johnson's high-stakes gamble
Inside Story  ​​29 September 2021

Western economies can't return to 'business as usual' after the pandemic
Guardian  ​31 August 2021

Keir Starmer must lean right to win? History suggests otherwise (with Andrew Hindmoor)  Guardian  ​5 May 2021

Taxes will have to rise at some point,
but right now we need the government to spend, spend, spend

Independent  ​19 July 2020

The economic disaster caused by the coronavirus will bring a record recession - we must act now
Independent  ​7 May 2020

Recovering better: a green, equitable and resilient recovery from coronavirus
​Briefing note for European Climate Foundation
30 March 2020

​
​
Capitalism is in crisis. And we cannot get out of it by carrying on as before 
​
Guardian  8 November 2019

The environment act should be a sustainable economy act
Green Alliance blog  11 October 2018

Hard-wiring the economy for justice
Renewal interview  5 October 2018

Corporate fat cats are abusing their power
​UnHerd  28 September 2018

A more active state is essential to a new economy
New Statesman  5 September 2018
​

Only revolutionary new laws can stop Brexit harming the environment
Guardian  3 April 2018

Changing direction: how industrial strategy can help remake the UK economy
IPPR and PrimeEconomics blog 17 November 2017

Why has the Bank of England raised interest rates? It ran out of options
Guardian  2 November 2017

Time for a paradigm shift
PrimeEconomics blog  29 October 2017

Five lessons learned from the general election
IPPR blog  14 June 2017

The industrial strategy acknowledges a fundamental truth about growth
New Statesman  23 January 2017

The Autumn Statement is just the start of rebuilding our economy
New Statesman  18 November 2016

If Theresa May is serious about inequality she'll ditch Osbornomics 
(with Mariana Mazzucato)
Guardian  19 July 2016

Don't panic, Brexit doesn't have to spell gloom for the environment
Guardian  30 June 2016

Energy companies are cheaper and cleaner when run by the council 
Guardian  3 June 2016

George Osborne will soon be forced to chow his hand on climate change
Guardian  17 March 2016

The Paris Agreement is
highly ambitious and very clever

Grantham Research Institute blog 
18 December 2015
(also published as a Green Alliance blog 
2
1 December 2015)


Paris is a pragmatic climate deal
New Scientist interview  15 December 2015

The Carbon Brief Interview
Carbon Brief   19 October 2015

The world's climate pledges are impressive - but still not enough  
​
Guardian  16 October 2015

Reflections on the latest report of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate
Grantham Research Institute blog  8 July 2015

The prospects for Paris 2015
New Statesman  6 January 2015


Lima deal represents fundamental change in global climate regime
Guardian  15 December 2014
(also in
Project Syndicate  15 December 2014)

Emissions targets are biggest challenge for Lima climate talks

Guardian  2 December 2014

Five ways Ban Ki-Moon's summit has changed international climate politics forever

Guardian
  24 September 2014

New Climate Economy: it's not just another report
Responding to Climate Change 
16 September 2014

The climate change agenda heats up
Project Syndicate  7 March 2014

Making sense of Snowden
Political Quarterly blog  17 October 2013

Reflections on One Nation Labour
Political Quarterly blog  22 September 2013

Housing, places and people: labour and the fifth wave of social environmentalism
Essay in Green Social Democracy: Better Homes in Better Places, ed Matthew Spencer et al, Green Alliance September 2013

Tax and spending (again)
Political Quarterly blog  8 May 2013 and
LSE Politics and Policy blog  14 May 2013

Osborne's anti-green agenda is strangling growth 
New Statesman  12 March 2013
and Political Quarterly blog  25 March 2013

Gove is all around: exams, public services and EU competition law
Political Quarterly blog  12 February 2013

Healthy tensions in the machinery of power
Letter to The Times  17 January 2013 (reprinted here)


The politics of place and the greening of Labour
In One Nation Labour - Debating the Future ed Jon Cruddas, Labour List e-book  January 2013 (and Labour List  12 November 2012)

Economie verte: mefions-nous des marchands de doute
Les Echos  4 January 2013 

The Doha climate change talks were a start, but 2015 will be the moment of truth
Guardian  10 December 2012

A low carbon future is the one we must all fight for
Guardian  2 December 2012

Politics and the planet
Political Quarterly Commentary
December 2012  (reprinted here)

The problem at No 10 
Political Quarterly blog  21 November 2012

Obama's victory: Non-lessons for Britain
Political Quarterly blog  7 November 2012

The Coalition's energy policy
Guardian and Political Quarterly blog 
18 October 2012

Economic prospects
Political Quarterly blog 11 October 2012

Ed Miliband's bravura performance
Political Quarterly blog  4 October 2012

The potential role for carbon pricing in reducing European deficits
(with Hector Pollitt et al)
Global Policy  18 September 2012

What is the state of international climate change talks?  Guardian  17 September 2012

Special advisers: an essential part of government
The House Magazine  12 July 2012  (reprinted here)

Leveson needed on financial crash
Letter to The Times
31 May 2012 (reprinted here)

Deadline 2015
Nature  12 January 2012  (reprinted here)

What Durban revealed about climate's shifting allegiances
Inside Story  14 December 2011

EU economy - black hole or green growth? Comment on Martin Wolf's Economists' Blog
Financial Times  28 October 2011




Books

Prosperity and Justice: A Plan for the New Economy
The Final Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice

IPPR / Polity  2018.

Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth 
co-edited with Mariana Mazzucato,
 Wiley Blackwell, 2016.

----
The Green Economy: Environment, Sustainable Development and the Politics of the Future. London: Pluto Press, 1991.

(With T. Hams et al). Greening Your Local Authority. Harlow: Longman, 1994. 

The Politics of the Real World. London: Earthscan, 1996 [catalogued as the Real World Coalition]

(Ed.) Greening the Millennium? The New Politics of the Environment. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

Paying for Progress: A New Politics of Tax for Public Spending. London: Fabian Society, 2000 [catalogued as the Commission on Taxation and Citizenship


Pamphlets

In tandem: The case for coordinated economic policy making (with Robert Calvert Jump, Jo Michell and Frank van Lerven)  Fabian Society pamphlet  November 2023.

----
Can Socialism Be Popular? London: Fabian Society, 1989 [with others].

Sustainable Development: Greening the Economy. London: Fabian Society, 1990.

(With M.Taylor) Greening Your Business: A Self-Help Manual of Environmental Good Practice for Small Firms. London: Greening Business in Islington, 1992.

Sustainability and Socialism. London: Socialist Environment and Resources Association, 1994.

(Ed.) Creative Futures. London: Fabian Society, 1997.

Environmental Modernisation: The New Labour Agenda. London: Fabian Society, 1999.

(With A. Lent and K. Watkins). Progressive Globalisation: Towards an International Social Democracy.  London: Fabian Society, 2003. 

Refereed papers and academic book chapters


After neoliberalism: Economic policy and politics in the polycrisis
Political Quarterly  February 2024

(with Andrew Hindmoor) Labour, left and right: On party positioning and policy reasoning 
British Journal of Politics and International Relations  26 (1) 2024, pp3-21

Reflections on COP26: international diplomacy, global justice and the greening of capitalism
Political Quarterly 93 (2) 2022, pp270-277

(with Laurie Laybourn-Langton)  'Paradigm shifts in economic theory and policy', 
Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy 53 (3) 2018, pp113-118 

(with Neil Carter)  Explaining radical policy change: the case of climate change and energy policy under the British Labour Government 2006-10, Public Administration  92 (1) 2014, pp125-141 
​
Beyond the social market: rethinking capitalism and public policy, Political Quarterly  84 (1) 2013, pp16-27

----

(With T. Jackson)  Carbon Taxes and the Assumptions of Environmental Economics. In T. Barker (ed), Green Futures for Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge Econometrics, 1991, pp49-67.

'Free Market Environmentalism': A Response to Eckersley. Environmental Politics 2 (4) 1993, pp238-41.

The Limits to Neoclassicism: Towards an Institutional Environmental Economics. In M. Redclift and T. Benton (eds), Social Theory and the Global Environment. London: Routledge, 1994, pp67-91.

Sustainable Development, Capital Substitution and Economic Humility: A Response to Beckerman. Environmental Values 4 (1) 1995, pp57-68.

Sustainable Development: Assumptions, Contradictions, Progress.  In J. Lovenduski and J. Stanyer (eds), Contemporary Political Studies 1995, Vol 3, Political Studies Association, 1995, pp1470-1485.

(With P. Ekins) ‘Environmental Sustainability and the Growth of GDP: Conditions for Compatibility. In V. Bhaskar, and A. Glyn (eds), The North, the South and the Environment. London: Earthscan, 1995, pp9-46.

Sustainability and “The Market”: A Typology of Environmental Economics’ and  ‘Financial Incentives: The British Experience. In R. Eckersley (ed), Markets, the State and the Environment: Towards Integration.  London and Melbourne: Macmillan, 1995, pp46-70 and 113-128.

The Employment Implications of Environmental Policy. In R. Welford and R. Starkey (eds), The Earthscan Reader in Business and the Environment. London: Earthscan, 1996, pp241-250.

Real World. Environmental Politics 5 (4), 1996, pp744-751.

(With P. Macnaghten) Public Identification with Sustainable Development: Investigating Cultural Barriers to Participation.  Global Environmental Change 7 (1) 1997, pp5-24.

Environmental Valuation, Deliberative Democracy and Public Decision-Making Institutions. In J. Foster (ed), Valuing Nature? Economics, Ethics, Environment. London: Routledge, 1997, pp211-231.

The Environment as Stakeholder. Business Strategy Review 8 (2) 1997, pp25-28.

Sustainability and Markets: On the Neoclassical Model of Environmental Economics, New Political Economy 2 (3) 1997, pp365-385.  Reprinted in M. Kenny and J. Meadowcroft (eds), Planning Sustainability. London: Routledge, 1999.

The New Politics of the Environment. In M. Jacobs (ed) Greening the Millennium? The New Politics of the Environment. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

The Quality of Life: Social Goods and the Politics of Consumption. In M. Jacobs (ed), Greening the Millennium? The New Politics of the Environment. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

Sustainable Development as a Contested Concept.  In A. Dobson (ed), Fairness and Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Environmental Democracy. In A. Gamble and T. Wright (eds), The New Social Democracy. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999.

(With J. Aldred)  Citizens and Wetlands: Evaluating the Ely Citizens' Jury, Ecological Economics 34 (2) 2000, pp217-232.

'reen growth: economic theory and political discourse.  In R. Falkner (ed), Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy, Wiley Blackwell 2013 (forthcoming), and also published as Grantham Research Institute Working Paper, London School of Economics  October 2012.

(With John Ward, Robin Smale, Max Krahe and Samuela Bassi)  Less pain, more gain: the potential of carbon pricing to reduce Europe's fiscal deficits.  Grantham Research Institute Policy Paper, London School of Economics, November 2012


Other publications and published reports

(with Sarah Colenbrander and Bianca Getzel) International development and climate finance: The new agenda  ODI report  June 2024

​(with Xhulia Likaj and Thomas Fricke), Green Growth, Degrowth  or Post-growth? Towards a Synthetic Understanding of the Growth Debate, Forum for a New Economy, 2022

Beyond Growth: Towards a New Economic Approach, report of the Advisory Group on a New Growth Narrative, OECD, 2020

(with Laurie Laybourn-Langton), Moving Beyond Neoliberalism: An Assessment of the Economic Systems Change Movement in the UK, Friends Provident Foundation, 2017 

Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy [lead author]
The Interim Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice, Institute for Public Policy Research, 2017

(with Izzy Hatfield, Loren King, Luke Raikes and Alfie Stirling), Industrial Strategy: Steering Structural Change in the UK Economy, London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 2017

(with Alfie Stirling and Catherine Colebrook), Out of Shape: Taking the Pulse of the UK Economy, 
Institute for Public Policy Research, 2016
----

Environmental Auditing in Local Government
. Luton: Local Government Management Board, 1991.

(With I. Collis) Strategic Planning and Sustainable Development. Peterborough: English Nature, 1992.

Sense and Sustainability: Land Use Planning and Environmentally Sustainable Development. London: Council for the Protection of Rural England, 1993.

A Guide to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme for UK Local Government. London: HMSO, 1993 [with R. Levett].

A Framework for Local Sustainability. Luton: Local Government Management Board, 1993 [with R. Levett and J. Bennett].

(With I. Collis) Planning for Environmental Sustainability. Peterborough: English Nature, 1994.

Green Jobs? The Employment Implications of Environmental Policy. Brussels: World Wide Fund for Nature, 1994. 

(With P. Macnaghten et al) Public Perceptions and Sustainability in Lancashire: Indicators, Institutions, Participation. Preston: Lancashire County Council, 1995.

Do Environmental Policies Cost Jobs?, Employment Policy Institute Economic Report 9 (8) 1995.

(With D. Corry) Environmental Taxes: Options for an Incoming Government. London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 1997.

Making Sense of Environmental Capacity. London: Council for the Protection of Rural England, 1997.

(With D. Anderson et al), Innovation and the Environment: Challenges and Policy Options for the UK.  London: Imperial College and Fabian Society, 2001.

(With R. Patrick), Wealth’s Fair Measure: The Reform of Inheritance Tax.  London: Fabian Society, 2003.

(With R. Levett et al), A Better Choice: Quality of Life, Consumption and Economic Growth.  London: Fabian Society, 2003.

Exploring the Role of the Third Sector in Public Services. London: HM Treasury, 2005 [catalogued as HM Treasury].

(With J. Brown), Leveraging Private Investment: The Role of Public Sector Finance.  London: Overseas Development Institute, 2011.

'Wellbeing: the Challenge for Labour', in C. Seaford (ed) The Practical Politics of Wellbeing. London: New Economics Foundation, 2011.
  
Environmental and Climate Change Policy: a Case Study in Preventative Action, Prevention Working Paper, London: New Economics Foundation, 2013.

Better Growth, Better Climate [co-lead author], Washington DC:  The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, 2014.

Seizing the Global Opportunity: Partnerships for Better Growth and a Better Climate [editor and co-lead author], Washington DC and London:  The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, 2015.  


(with J. Rydge and I. Granoff), Ensuring New Infrastructure is Climate-Smart, New Climate Economy Working Paper, 2015.

(with Alfie Stirling and Catherine Colebrook), Out of Shape: Taking the Pulse of the UK Economy, 
Institute for Public Policy Research, 2016

Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy [lead author]
The Interim Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice, Institute for Public Policy Research, 2017


(with Izzy Hatfield, Loren King, Luke Raikes and Alfie Stirling), Industrial Strategy: Steering Structural Change in the UK Economy, London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 2017

(with Laurie Laybourn-Langton), Moving Beyond Neoliberalism: An Assessment of the Economic Systems Change Movement in the UK, Friends Provident Foundation, 2017 

Beyond Growth: Towards a New Economic Approach, report of the Advisory Group on a New Growth Narrative, OECD, 2020

(with Xhulia Likaj and Thomas Fricke), Green Growth, Degrowth  or Post-growth? Towards a Synthetic Understanding of the Growth Debate, Forum for a New Economy, 2022

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