The Nature of Economies

• Jacobs, Jane
• Random House of Canada; 2001
• Paperback; 208 pages
• 9780679310969

Jane Jacobs has spent years changing the way we think about economic life in general. Now, in The Nature of Economies, Jacobs proposes a radical notion that has breath-taking common sense: economies are governed by the same rules as nature itself. With the simplicity of an extremely wise and seasoned thinker, Jane Jacobs shows us that by looking to nature, we can develop economies that are both efficient and ecologically friendly.

The Nature of Economies is written in dialogue form: five intelligent friends discussing over coffee how economies work. The result is a wonderfully provocative, truly ground-breaking work by one of the great thinkers of our time.

Review quotes

"The liveliness of her mind is a joy to behold, as is her common sense and a prose style uncluttered with the litter of empty jargon...her book is well and timely met."
—The Globe and Mail

"This is vintage Jane Jacobs: quietly authoritative, profoundly accessible, and disdainful of the blinkered viewpoints of academic theorists."
—The Calgary Herald

"Witty, beautifully written — the culmination of Jacobs' previous thinking, and a step forward that deftly invokes a broader philosophical, even metaphysical, context."
—Publishers Weekly

"Jane Jacobs has become more than a person. She is an adjective."
—Toronto Life

“Jane Jacobs, our foremost social economist, believes knowledge of process makes a society rich.”
—National Post

About the Author

Jane Jacobs is the author of several books, including the classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which redefined urban studies and economic policy, and the bestselling Systems of Survival. She lives and works in Toronto.