On Natural Capital

The Value of the World Around Us

Sir Partha Dasgupta

$55

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Witness Books
24 August 2025

Economics; Environmental economics; The environment

Globally renowned professor of Economics at Cambridge University, and 'the most important person you've never heard of' (New York Times), Sir Partha Dasgupta presents a new model that can - and must - transform global economics

'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 infinite- 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.

By: Sir Partha Dasgupta
Imprint: Witness Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 242mm, Width: 163mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 478g
ISBN: 9781529144192
ISBN 10: 1529144191
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 24 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Partha Dasgupta is the Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He was awarded the 2021 Kew International Medal of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and in 2022 was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire by King Charles III for 'services to economics and the natural environment'.

Reviews for On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us

'the most important person you've never heard of' -- The New York Times * The New York Times * ‘Economics is a discipline that shapes decisions of the utmost consequence, and so matters to us all. [Partha Dasgupta] at last puts biodiversity at its core and 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 *