Thomas More’s 'Utopia' as a Steady State Economy

The idea of a steady-state economy based on the relationship between population and land was first introduced in the writings of Plato (Laws) and Aristotle (Politics), both in the fourth century BC. Nineteen centuries later, in 1516, Thomas More published his Utopia. In this paper I argue that More’s Utopia is a steady state economy based on two fundamental institutions: public ownership of the means of production and democratic system of governance. What makes Utopia a steady state economy is the limited land (Utopia is an island) and the stability of population. Given that resources are limited the ‘Grow or Die’ motto of modern capitalism does not apply and therefore a different system of social values is developed in Utopia.