# Bibliography — what to read if you want the academic argument in depth This is the scholarly literature underlying every claim on the main page. It is organized by topic, with primary-source citations where possible. Each entry includes a one-line note explaining why it is here. If you want to *cite* the Abundance site itself, see [`CITATION.cff`](CITATION.cff). If you want to *correct* it, open a PR — every entry below was added because the editor judged it both load-bearing and likely-to-stand-up-to-review, and we want to be wrong on the public record rather than right in private. --- ## 1 · Famine, hunger, and food access — the entitlement tradition The single most foundational citation for the entire page. Sen's argument that famines are caused by entitlement failures rather than food shortages is the academic consensus, not a heterodox view. - **Sen, A. (1981). *Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation*. Oxford University Press.** [Full PDF](https://gdsnet.org/Sen1982PovertyandFaminesBook.pdf). The 1998 Nobel-cited work. Documents the 1943 Bengal famine, Ethiopia 1973, Sahel 1968–73, and Bangladesh 1974, all of which occurred during years of adequate food production. - **Sen, A. & Drèze, J. (1989). *Hunger and Public Action*. Oxford.** Extends entitlement theory to public policy and democratic accountability ("no famine has ever taken place in a functioning democracy"). - **Devereux, S. (2001). 'Sen's Entitlement Approach: Critiques and Counter-Critiques.' *Oxford Development Studies* 29(3):245–263.** Honest summary of where Sen's framework has been challenged. - **FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO (annual). *The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World*.** [Latest: SOFI 2025](https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd6008en). The canonical annual measurement. - **FAO + UNEP (2024). *Food Waste Index Report 2024*.** [Link](https://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/1681058/). ~32% of food production lost or wasted globally. --- ## 2 · Inequality, wealth concentration, and distribution - **Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. et al (annual). *World Inequality Report*.** [wir2026.wid.world](https://wid.world/). Updated every four years. Top 1% holds more wealth than bottom 90% in nearly every region; top 0.001% owns 3× the bottom half of humanity. - **Piketty, T. (2014). *Capital in the Twenty-First Century*. Harvard.** Rate of return on capital ≥ rate of economic growth (r > g) implies wealth concentration over time absent intervention. - **Saez, E. & Zucman, G. (2019). *The Triumph of Injustice*. W.W. Norton.** US-specific empirical analysis of how the tax system actually distributes burdens. - **Zucman, G. (2015). *The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens*. University of Chicago.** ~$7.6 trillion of household wealth held offshore; coordinated enforcement is a tractable policy. - **Tørsløv, T., Wier, L., Zucman, G. (2023). 'The Missing Profits of Nations.' *Review of Economic Studies* 90(3):1499–1534.** Multinational corporate profit-shifting to tax havens estimated at $480–700B/year. - **Wilkinson, R. & Pickett, K. (2009). *The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better*. Allen Lane.** Cross-country evidence linking income inequality to worse outcomes on 11 social and health metrics. Has been critiqued; descriptive pattern is robust. - **UBS Global Wealth Report (annual). [2024 ed.](https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20240710-gwr-2024.html).** $449.9T global household wealth (2023); 58M people hold $213.8T. - **Atkinson, A.B. (2015). *Inequality: What Can Be Done?* Harvard.** Practical policy menu from a leading economist. --- ## 3 · Cash transfers — the empirical evidence base This is where the empirical pushback to "if you give people money they'll stop working" has been done at scale. ### Major individual evaluations cited on the main page - **Banerjee, A., Faye, M., Krueger, A., Niehaus, P., Suri, T. (2023). 'Universal Basic Income: Short-Term Results from a Long-Term Experiment in Kenya.'** [J-PAL PDF](https://www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/research-paper/Universal-Basic-Income-Short-Term-Results-from-a-Long-Term-Experiment-in-Kenya_BFKNS_December2023.pdf). The GiveDirectly RCT. - **Jones, D. & Marinescu, I. (2022). 'The Labor Market Impacts of Universal and Permanent Cash Transfers: Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund.' *American Economic Journal: Economic Policy* 14(2):315–340.** [DOI](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20190299). 40 years of Alaska data: no aggregate labor-supply effect. - **Salehi-Isfahani, D. & Mostafavi-Dehzooei, M. (2018). 'Cash Transfers and Labor Supply: Evidence from a Large-Scale Program in Iran.' *Journal of Development Economics* 135:349–367.** [Link](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304387818306084). Iran 2011 program covering >70M people. - **West, S., Castro, A., Samra, S., Coltrera, E. (2023). 'Impact of Guaranteed Income on Health, Finances, and Agency: Findings from the Stockton Randomized Controlled Trial.' *Journal of Urban Health* 100(6):1184–1198.** [DOI](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11524-023-00723-0). Stockton SEED. - **Costello, E.J., Compton, S., Keeler, G., Angold, A. (2003). 'Relationships Between Poverty and Psychopathology: A Natural Experiment.' *JAMA* 290(15):2023–2029.** [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7250001/). Cherokee casino dividend, Great Smoky Mountains Study. - **Soares, F.V., Ribas, R.P., Osório, R.G. (multiple, 2010+). Evaluations of Brazil's Bolsa Família.** See [World Bank PDF](https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/793761468015579565/lifting-families-out-of-poverty-in-brazil-bolsa-familia-program). - **Parker, S.W. & Todd, P.E. (2017). 'Conditional Cash Transfers: The Case of Progresa/Oportunidades.' *Journal of Economic Literature* 55(3):866–915.** Mexico's flagship program — over 20 years of evidence. ### Systematic reviews and meta-analyses — the strongest evidence form - **Crosta, T., Karlan, D., Ong, F., Rüschenpöhler, J., Udry, C. (2024). 'Unconditional Cash Transfers: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Randomized Evaluations in Low and Middle Income Countries.'** [SSRN](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4923490). 114 studies × 72 UCT programs. Positive average effects on 10 of 13 outcomes; no negative labor-supply effect. - **Bastagli, F., Hagen-Zanker, J., Harman, L., Barca, V., Sturge, G., Schmidt, T., Pellerano, L. (2016). *Cash Transfers: What does the evidence say? A rigorous review of programme impact and of the role of design and implementation features.* ODI.** [Full report](https://odi.org/documents/5301/11316.pdf). 165 studies, 35 indicators, 15 years. - **Banerjee, A., Niehaus, P., Suri, T. (2019). 'Universal Basic Income in the Developing World.' *Annual Review of Economics* 11:959–983.** [NBER WP 25598](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25598/w25598.pdf). - **Banerjee, A. et al (2015). 'A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries.' *Science* 348(6236):1260799.** Six-country (Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Pakistan, Peru) graduation-program evaluation; benefits persist 7–10 years. - **Evans, D.K. & Popova, A. (2017). 'Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods.' *Economic Development and Cultural Change* 65(2):189–221.** Meta-analysis showing cash transfers reduce, not increase, spending on alcohol/tobacco. --- ## 4 · Institutions, growth, and the alternative to extraction - **Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J.A. (2012). *Why Nations Fail*. Crown Publishing.** Inclusive vs extractive institutions framework. 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. - **Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J.A. (2019). *The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty*. Penguin.** The follow-on with broader political theory. - **Ostrom, E. (1990). *Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*. Cambridge.** 2009 Nobel-Prize work. Empirical refutation of the "tragedy of the commons" framing — humans have organized commons sustainably for centuries when given the institutional space. - **Galbraith, J.K. (1958). *The Affluent Society*. Houghton Mifflin.** The original critique of conventional wisdom about scarcity in rich economies. - **Mazzucato, M. (2018). *The Value of Everything*. Allen Lane.** Argues that the public sector creates much of the value private companies capture. - **Stiglitz, J.E. (2012). *The Price of Inequality*. W.W. Norton.** Macroeconomic and political costs of high inequality. --- ## 5 · Work, leisure, and the pre-industrial baseline Background for §8 of the main page. - **Lee, R.B. (1968). 'What Hunters Do for a Living, or, How to Make Out on Scarce Resources.' In Lee & DeVore, eds., *Man the Hunter*. University of Chicago.** The Ju/'hoansi food-acquisition figure of 12–19 hrs/week. - **Sahlins, M. (1972). *Stone Age Economics*. Aldine-Atherton.** Coined "the original affluent society." Heavily critiqued since; descriptive figures revised but framework remains influential. - **Hawkes, K. & O'Connell, J.F. (1981). 'Affluent Hunters? Some Comments in Light of the Alyawara Case.' *American Anthropologist* 83(3):622–626.** The substantial revision: total labor with processing/childcare is closer to 40 hrs/week. - **Suzman, J. (2017). *Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen*. Bloomsbury.** Modern fieldwork updating and partly defending Sahlins. - **Suzman, J. (2020). *Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots*. Penguin.** A longer historical argument. - **Larsen, C.S. (1995). 'Biological Changes in Human Populations with Agriculture.' *Annual Review of Anthropology* 24:185–213.** Bioarchaeological evidence that agriculture made humans shorter, sicker, and worked harder. - **Cohen, M.N. & Armelagos, G.J., eds. (1984). *Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture*. Academic Press.** The canonical compilation of skeletal evidence. - **Wiessner, P. (2014). 'Embers of Society: Firelight Talk among the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen.' *PNAS* 111(39):14027–14035.** [DOI](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1404212111). 81% of nighttime talk is stories. - **Ekirch, A.R. (2001, 2005). 'Sleep we have lost: pre-industrial slumber in the British Isles.' *American Historical Review* 106(2):343–386; *At Day's Close: Night in Times Past* (Norton, 2005).** Documents 500+ historical references to segmented sleep. - **Wehr, T.A. (1992). 'In short photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic.' *Journal of Sleep Research* 1(2):103–107.** The NIMH experiment that reproduced segmented sleep under 14-hour dark conditions. --- ## 6 · Production data — the foundational numbers - **UN DESA Population Division (2024). *World Population Prospects 2024*.** [Summary](https://population.un.org/wpp/assets/Files/WPP2024_Summary-of-Results.pdf). - **IMF (April 2026). *World Economic Outlook database*.** [Data mapper](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/WEOWORLD). - **FAO. *Cereal Supply and Demand Brief*.** [Link](https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/csdb). - **FAOSTAT *Food Balance Sheets*.** [Our World in Data summary](https://ourworldindata.org/food-supply). - **FAO AQUASTAT.** [Methodology](https://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/overview/methodology/water-resources/). - **IEA. *Electricity 2024*.** [Report](https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2024/executive-summary). - **IEA. *Defining Energy Access* (2020 methodology).** [Article](https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology). - **Rockefeller Foundation / Energy for Growth Hub. *The Modern Energy Minimum* (2020).** [PDF](https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Modern-Energy-Minimum-Sept30.pdf). - **WHO. *Global Health Expenditure Report* (annual).** [Latest](https://www.who.int/teams/health-financing-and-economics/global-spending-on-health-report). - **WHO + UNICEF. *Estimates of National Immunization Coverage* (WUENIC, annual).** [Latest](https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/immunization-analysis-and-insights/global-monitoring/immunization-coverage/who-unicef-estimates-of-national-immunization-coverage). - **ITU. *Facts and Figures* (annual).** [2024](https://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/facts-figures-2024/index/). - **TeleGeography. *Global Bandwidth Research Service*.** [Snapshot](https://blog.telegeography.com/international-internet-bandwidth). - **World Bank Open Data API.** [data.worldbank.org](https://data.worldbank.org/). Source for `data/countries.json`. - **UN-Habitat / UN DESA.** [Housing data](https://social.desa.un.org/world-summit-2025/blog/300million-people-homeless-worldwide). - **SIPRI. *Trends in World Military Expenditure* (annual).** [2024 fact sheet](https://www.sipri.org/publications/2025/sipri-fact-sheets/trends-world-military-expenditure-2024). - **World Bank. *June 2025 Update to Global Poverty Lines*.** [Factsheet](https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2025/06/05/june-2025-update-to-global-poverty-lines). - **International Diabetes Federation. *IDF Diabetes Atlas* (11th ed, 2024).** [diabetesatlas.org](https://diabetesatlas.org/). - **MSF Access Campaign / JAMA Network Open (2024).** Barber, M. et al. 'Estimated Sustainable Cost-Based Prices for Diabetes Medicines.' [Summary](https://msfaccess.org/jama-network-open-estimated-sustainable-cost-based-prices-diabetes-medicines). --- ## 7 · Demographic transition — why "lifting people out of poverty" doesn't cause overpopulation - **Notestein, F.W. (1945). 'Population — The Long View.' In Schultz, ed., *Food for the World*. University of Chicago.** Original statement of the demographic transition. - **UN DESA, *World Population Prospects 2024*.** Medium variant projects global population peaking ~10.3B in the 2080s and declining. [Summary](https://population.un.org/wpp/assets/Files/WPP2024_Summary-of-Results.pdf). - **Bongaarts, J. (2009). 'Human Population Growth and the Demographic Transition.' *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B* 364(1532):2985–2990.** Recent synthesis of demographic-transition evidence. --- ## 8 · Country case studies (companion to `case-studies.html`) - **Costa Rica.** UNESCO Memory of the World, [Abolition of the Army](https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/abolition-army-costa-rica). - **Norway.** [Norges Bank Investment Management, Annual Report 2024](https://www.nbim.no/contentassets/490f9f062cfc4694b12c45f4d04ab0a5/annual_report_2024.pdf). - **Iceland.** [Special Investigation Commission Report (Hreinsson Report, 2010, English summary)](https://www.rna.is/eldri-nefndir/addragandi-og-orsakir-falls-islensku-bankanna-2008/skyrsla-nefndarinnar/english/). - **Bhutan.** [Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008](https://www.nab.gov.bt/assets/uploads/docs/acts/2014/Constitution_of_Bhutan_2008.pdf); Ura, Alkire, Zangmo (2012) 'GNH and GNH Index.' - **Mauritius.** Subramanian, A. & Roy, D. (2001), 'Who Can Explain the Mauritian Miracle? Meade, Romer, Sachs, or Rodrik?' [IMF WP 01/116](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2001/wp01116.pdf); Frankel, J. (2010) 'Mauritius: African Success Story', NBER WP 16569. --- ## 9 · The Omelas framing and related ethics - **Le Guin, U.K. (1973). 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.' In *New Dimensions 3*; reprinted in *The Wind's Twelve Quarters* (1975).** The thought experiment. - **James, W. (1891). 'The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life.' *International Journal of Ethics* 1(3):330–354.** William James's earlier formulation that Le Guin's story refines: "if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture..." — predating Le Guin by 82 years. - **Singer, P. (1972). 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality.' *Philosophy & Public Affairs* 1(3):229–243.** The canonical philosophical argument for distribution duties across borders. --- ## 10 · Synthesizing books — if you only read three If you want the page's argument as long-form, in order of accessibility: 1. **Bregman, R. (2017). *Utopia for Realists*. Little, Brown.** Best general-audience synthesis of UBI evidence. 2. **Banerjee, A. & Duflo, E. (2011). *Poor Economics*. PublicAffairs.** RCT evidence on what actually reduces poverty. Nobel-winning authors. 3. **Sen, A. (1999). *Development as Freedom*. Knopf.** The mature statement of the capability approach. If you only read one of *those three*: **Sen.** If you only read one paragraph: it's the one in §1 of the main page about the 1943 Bengal famine. Production was up. People still starved. That's the whole argument. --- ## How to add to this list Open a pull request. Standards: peer-reviewed work, primary-source URL where possible, single-line description that says why the entry is here. We bias toward including challenges to the page's thesis as well as supports — being on the public record getting argued with is the goal.