The Alternative
How to Build a Just Economy
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- 39,00 kr
Publisher Description
'A very valuable field manual for those who want to change our economies for the better' Ha-Joon Chang
'Excellent' Danny Dorling
'Just the book economists should read . . . The Alternative has the approachable style of a moderate but the bold convictions of a radical' Washington Post
A provocative new vision for a sustainable, survivable economy.
Is our economy - blighted by inequality, environmental destruction, and precarious, soul-destroying work - inevitable? Or is there an alternative?
Taking us on a globe-spanning journey to meet the economists, entrepreneurs and ordinary people who are rejecting these myths, The Alternative envisions an economy reshaped to reflect our true ethical and social values. From fair pricing experiments in the Netherlands to super-scale cooperatives in Spain to public sector marketplaces offering effective protection to gig workers in the USA, acclaimed economic journalist Nick Romeo plots the inspiring paths towards an economy that is more equal, just and liveable.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Romeo debuts with an invigorating investigation of how governments across the globe are implementing creative and practical fixes "to urgent economic problems, from decreasing wealth inequality to addressing the climate crisis and creating meaningful jobs." In Amsterdam, he explains, some businesses are opting into a "true price" program that incorporates "climate impact, water use, land use, and underpayment to workers" into products' retail price. For example, a tomato picked by an underpaid worker and delivered with a diesel truck will carry an extra charge, incentivizing companies to institute more ethical practices to remain competitive. Romeo humanizes the policy talk with stories of people affected by the various programs, as when he describes how an out of work cobbler found employment doing carpentry and teaching German as part of a jobs guarantee program in Gramatneusiedl, Austria. Discussions of worker-owned cooperatives in the Basque country of Spain and participatory budgeting in Portugal will expand readers' conception of what public policy can look like, and Romeo offers an incisive history of how neoliberal economists have limited America's legislative imagination since the 1970s by falsely asserting that the country's institutions and fiscal policy were founded on "immutable" laws of economics, and consequently beyond large-scale reform. This is an eye-opening handbook for a better world.
