Consequences of Economic Downturn

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Beyond the Usual Economics

   1. Beyond the Usual Economics

      • Martha A. Starr

      Pages 1-21

3. Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Economic Policy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

      PDF

   2. The Economic Crisis and the Crisis in Economics

      • George DeMartino

      Pages 25-44

   3. The Financial Crash of 2008: An Illustrative Instance of the Separation of Risk from Reward in American Capitalism

      • Robert E. Prasch

      Pages 45-62

   4. Rising Inequality and the Financial Crises of 1929 and 2008

      • Jon D. Wisman, Barton Baker

      Pages 63-82

   5. Inequality and Its Discontents: The Real Causes and Consequences of the Crisis

      • Steven Pressman

      Pages 83-101

   6. We’ve Been Nudged: The Effects of the Downturn on Dignity and Responsibility

      • Mark D. White

      Pages 103-118

4. Distributional Effects of the Downturn

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119

      PDF

   2. Race and Recession: A Comparison of the Economic Impact of the 1980s and 2007–09 Recessions on Non-College-Educated Black and White Men

      • Niki Dickerson vonLockette

      Pages 121-137

   3. Who Pays the Price When Housing Bubbles Burst? Evidence from the American Community Survey

      • Cynthia Bansak, Martha A. Starr

      Pages 139-165

   4. Gender Equality in U.S. Labor Markets in the “Great Recession” of 2007–10

      • Caren Grown, Emcet Tas

      Pages 167-186

5. Social Economy and the Economic Downturn: Communities, Needs, and Capabilities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 187-187

      PDF

   2. Recession and the Social Economy

      • Martha A. Starr

      Pages 189-214

   3. Beyond the Wasteland: A Report from Detroit

      • Bruce Pietrykowski

      Pages 215-237

   4. Teaching Financial Literacy in the Wake of the Financial Crisis

      • Deborah M. Figart

      Pages 239-257

6. Back Matter

   Pages 259-270

   PDF

The 2007-09 financial crisis and economic downturn inflicted considerable hardship on the U.S. population. This book argues that the financial crisis and ensuing recession reflected not just a malfunctioning of the financial system - but also inequalities and insecurities in access to livelihoods that favor well-off groups and leave ordinary people shouldering undue burdens of downside risk. This book, a collection of original papers by leading social economists and scholars in related fields, examines social, distributional, and ethical dimensions of the downturn. It should be of broad interest to the social-science and economic-policy communities.

• care
• economic policy
• economics
• financial crisis
• Import
• inequality
• labor market
• labor markets
• social economy

"Eleven papers explore the causes and consequences of the current economic downturn beyond the usual focus on money, banking, and finance." - Journal of Economic Literature

"Unusual economic times call for going beyond the usual economics; this book does that; it provides a valuable contribution to the economic debate about the recent crisis and how to deal with it." - David Colander, CAJ Distinguished Professor of Economics, Middlebury College

"The contributors to this refreshingly accessible volume make clear that the destruction of livelihoods brought on by the Great Recession is not evenly shared. Our attention is drawn to where it deserves to be: on the human costs of failure to manage economies in a way that ensures broadly shared well-being and economic security." - Stephanie Seguino, Professor of Economics, University of Vermont

• American University, USA

  Martha A. Starr

Martha Starr is Assistant Professor at American University, USA. She is the co-editor on the Review of Social Economics journal and on the editorial board of Journal of Economics Issues and Journal of Pluralism and Economic Education. Starr's research interests are consumption, saving, wealth, macroeconomics, monetary policy, developing and emerging-market countries, and social economics.

Policies and ethics