From the Roots Up: Economic Development as if Community Mattered
(by David P. Ross and Peter J. Usher, 1986, 191 pp., #208, $20.00)
Western economies are increasingly vulnerable to
unemployment, inflation, energy crises and high interest
rates. This book provides an innovative
perspective of the whole economy, one that is not
provided by conventional indicators and analyses of the
narrower market economy. Ross and Usher argue that
the separation of economic and social problems
encouraged by "bottom-line" thinking in business and
government must be replaced by a form of "social
accounting," as typified by activity in smaller structures
closer to the community.
Conventional solutions such as free trade, industrial
specialization and employment generation through
"megaprojects" are leading us in the wrong direction.
Expanding the role of cooperative enterprises, small
businesses, community development corporations,
voluntary activity, mutual aid, and household activity
will yield more informal and more appropriate solutions.
From the Roots Up explains why we need to revise our
concepts of work and employment, our system of
taxation and public finance, and our traditional
perspectives on public issues.
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