Civil Endowment: The Transformation of Economic Power - Paperback

by David Nelson McCarthy (Author)

This breakthrough book proposes a simple yet profound economic innovation: a decentralized system of permanent capital endowments, all invested for the common good of humanity. The urgent challenges of our times-wealth inequality, ecological threats, and social instability-demand a thorough rethinking of economics, both theoretically and practically. Building on a foundation of six basic virtues that arise from the principle of an economics of compassion, David McCarthy guides us toward a leap of insight into the nature of economic capital, and points out the possibility of establishing civil endowments as a new structural dimension in the world economy. The book is practical as well as visionary-it includes a detailed proposal for civil society governance of the endowment system. Anyone who aspires for positive system change in economics will find this vision of civil endowment highly stimulating. It is provocative both in the realm of ideas and at the heart level. It is also a deeply compelling call to action.

Author Biography

David Nelson McCarthy (b. 1954) is an independent scholar, writer, and activist in the field of economics. He has been active in the sustainability movement, and is a co-founder of the Hudson Valley Current, a local currency system. He is the founder of Rinchen Publications and has been engaged with publishing Buddhist texts for over 25 years. He recently founded a new non-profit organization, The Center for Civil Economics (www.civil-economics.org), to conduct research, dialogue, and activism around civil society's role in the economy. He lives in Kingston, New York.