Whether you are an activist, student, or professor, a reader or a potential Dollars & Sense author, we hope you will find these resources useful.


Books

Recently Featured in Dollars & Sense

The Conservative Nanny State, by Dean Baker. Excerpted Jul/Aug 2006. From the excerpt: It is accurate to say that conservatives don't like big government social programs, but not because they don't like big government. The problem with big government social programs is that they tend to distribute money downward, or provide benefits to large numbers of people. That is not the conservative agenda—the agenda is getting the money to flow upward, and for this, big government is just fine.

All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy, by Jared Benstein. Excerpted Jul/Aug 2006. From the excerpt: I once heard an allegory about mealtime in heaven and hell. It turns out that in both places, meals are served at a huge round table with lots of delicious food in the center. The food is out of reach, but everyone's got really long forks. In hell, everyone starves because, while people can reach the food with their forks, the forks are much longer than their arms, so nobody can turn a fork around and eat what's on the end of it. In heaven, faced with the same problem, people eat well. How? By feeding each other.

Fear: The History of a Political Idea, by Corey Robin. Reviewed Mar/Apr 2006 by Esther Kingston-Mann. From the review: According to political scientist Corey Robin, when we view fear and terror in psychological terms or as weapons in the hands of the weak or the fanatic, we miss what may be far more important—the intentional use of fear by elites as an everyday instrument of power.


By the Dollars & Sense Collective and Associates

By Randy Albelda: Unlevel Playing Fields: Understanding Wage Inequality and Discrimination; Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty; Economics and Feminism; Mink Coats Don't Trickle Down: The Economic Attack on Women and People of Color; Alternatives to Economic Orthodoxy

By Chuck Collins: Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity; Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes; Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change

By Ellen Frank: The Raw Deal: How Myths and Misinformation about Deficits, Inflation, and Wealth Impoverish America

By Arthur MacEwan: Neo-Liberalism or Democracy?: Economic Strategy, Markets, and Alternatives for the 21st Century; Debt and Disorder: International Economic Instability and U.S. Imperial Decline ; Instability and Change in the World Economy

By Chris Tilly: Stories Employers Tell: Race, Skill, and Hiring in America; Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities; Glass Ceilings, Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty; Half a Job: Bad and Good Part-Time Jobs in a Changing Labor Market; Work Under Capitalism

By Sam Tracy: Bicycle!: A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto

By Thad Williamson: Making a Place for Community: Local Democracy in a Global Era


Big Names in (Introduction to) Political Economy

Follow the links below to buy books by the economic thinkers whose work is summarized in our book Introduction to Political Economy. You can also read more about them (and many others) on the History of Economic Thought site.


Children's Books

In the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Dollars & Sense, editor Chris Sturr reported:

In my family, some holiday traditions—wrapping presents with the funny papers, or oranges and walnuts in our stockings (which were replaced dutifully in the fruit and nut bowls after Christmas morning)—were reminders of the economic hardships of our parents' Depression-Era upbringing. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal tells of a Christmas tradition I am less familiar with: paper treasury bonds as stocking-stuffers. But investment advisors are now saying that in place this admirable, but boring, investment-encouraging tradition, parents should find "something the kid will embrace—whether it's an autographed baseball for a Mets fan, or a share of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. for someone who loved, say, Shrek (frameable, and featuring a big picture of Shrek on it)."

The Journal suggests three categories of investment-encouraging gifts for kids: stocks, gold and foreign coins ("shiny, virtually indestructible," and "a timeless memento that also provides a small lesson in global economics"), and collectibles. A downside of some collectibles you might think of—toys, for example—is that kids might actually play with them, but this would diminish their value. One investment analyst said of his 9-year-old daughter’s collection of 35 globes: "If nothing else, it gets her to appreciate how to collect, and how having a collection is more valuable than having an individual item."

If T-bills were never part of your family's holiday traditions, we invite suggestions on gifts that encourage collectivist rather than consumerist (or capitalist) habits. To be wrapped in the WSJ, naturally.

Here's a suggestion, Chris.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin. Synopsis: The pen is mightier than the sword, and the typewriter is mightier than the ploughshare. When Farmer Brown's cows find a typewriter in the barn, they start making demands and go on strike when the farmer refuses to give them what they want.



Economic Research Resources



Other Sources of Left Economic Comment and Research



Places and Events

Dollars & Sense is proud to be involved in establishing economic content for Encuentro 5, a space for progressive movement building in the heart of Boston’s Chinatown. Encuentro 5 grew out of the 2004 Boston Social Forum, and its political and cultural programs aim to fulfill the possibilities that social forums hold for developing a multi-faceted resistance to corporate globalization.

Encuentro 5 is also modeled after the Brecht Forum in New York City. The Brecht Forum is a place for people who are working for social justice, equality, and a new culture that puts human needs first. Through its programs and events, the Brecht Forum brings people together across social and cultural boundaries and artistic and academic disciplines to promote critical analysis, creative thinking, collaboartive projects, and networking in an independent community-level environment.

The U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives is holding its Second Conference for Worker Ownership and Workplace Democracy October 13-15 in New York. Three reasons to go: 1) The opening reception will be held at worker-owned Colors Restaurant (in D&S 2004, 2006); 2) there will be a screening of The Take, Naomi Klein's documentary on Argentine factory takeovers; and 3) members of the Dollars & Sense collective will be there, of course. Visit the conference page for more information.

In Boston, the Lucy Parsons Center provides event space for local activists and artists.