On Tuesday 19 May 2026, Professor Ian Gough FBA, CASE Visiting Professor, will deliver the British Academy lecture "Planning for a sufficiency economy: lessons from Britain in World War II". 

Runaway global heating is accelerating to dangerous levels. While some governments reverse decarbonising plans to boost economic growth, the favoured strategy among others remains 'green growth'. But it is too late now. This ‘efficiency’ approach alone cannot stem dangerous climate change. This lecture develops the principle of a 'sufficiency' economy: a space between a floor of meeting basic needs and a ceiling of consumption and production that will sustain human habitats. It requires rediscovering older concepts including basic needs and unproductive labour. How can this happen within a system of global capitalism? This lecture draws on British planning in the Second World War to show how a capitalist economy can be transformed in under two years and discuss its relevance to today.

Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship Lecture programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

Find out more about the lecture and how to attend on the British Academy event page.