About

Introducing

Michael H. Shuman

I am an economist, attorney, author, entrepreneur, and a leading visionary in community economics. Currently, I serve as an Adjunct Professor at Bard Business School in New York City and as a Senior Researcher at Council Fire, where I conduct economic development analyses for states, local governments, and businesses across North America. I also publish a weekly newsletter on local investment, The Main Street Journal, which reaches 8,000 readers.

I am credited with being one of the architects of the 2012 JOBS Act and dozens of state laws overhauling securities regulation of crowdfunding. I have also authored, coauthored, or edited ten books. My two most recent books are Put Your Money Where Your Life Is: How to Invest Locally Using Solo 401(k)s and Self-Directed IRAs, and The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing Pollinator Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity. One of my previous books, The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-Koehler, 2006), received a bronze prize from the Independent Publishers Association for best business book of 2006.

A prolific speaker, I have given an average of more than one invited talk per week, mostly to local governments and universities, for the past 30 years in nearly every U.S. state and more than a dozen countries.

Michael Shuman, Author & Economist headshot
Economist & Author

Books by Michael Shuman

Put Your Money Where Your Life Is

The Local Economy Solution

Local Dollars, Local Sense book cover by Michael H. Shuman author

Local Dollars, Local Sense

The Small-Mart Revolution book cover by Michael H. Shuman author

The Small-Mart Revolution

Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age by Michael H. Shuman

Going Local

View All Books
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Public Engagement

I am highly active in public engagement, frequently appearing on radio shows, webinars, and video platforms to discuss community economics and local investment strategies.

In addition to my speaking engagements, I have published numerous articles in major media outlets and academic journals, contributing to the national discourse on sustainable economic development.

  • Local Dollars, Local Sense:  How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity (Chelsea Green, 2012).
  • The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-Koehler, 2006)
  • Encyclopedia of Community (Sage, 2004) (senior co-editor)
  • Local Rights and Global Wrongs:  The Legality of Municipal Foreign Policies (forthcoming)
  • Going Local:  Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age (Free Press, 1998; paperback by Routledge, 2000)
  • Towards A Global Village (London:  Pluto, 1994).
  • Technology for the Common Good (Washington: IPS, 1993) (co‑ editor).
  • Conditions of Peace:  An Inquiry (New York:  Talman, 1992) (co‑editor).
  • Security Without War:  A Post‑Cold War Foreign Policy  (Boulder: Westview, 1993) (lead co‑author).
  • Citizen Diplomats:  Pathfinders in Soviet‑American Relations (New York: Continuum, 1987) (co-author).

Book Chapters

  • “The Competitiveness of Local Living Economies,” in Daniel Lerch, ed.,  The Post-Carbon Reader (Chelsea Green, 2010).
  • “Relocalizing Business,” in Eric Assadourian, ed., Worldwatch State of the World 2010 (Norton, 2010).
  • “Local Living Economies,” in The Encyclopedia of Sustainability (Great Barrington, MA:  Berkshire, 2010)
  • “Reshaping Communities for Rural Development & Food Systems,” in Sustainable Economic Community Development (Kellogg Foundation).
  • “Foreword,” in Fran McManus & Wendy Rickard, eds., Cooking Fresh from the Mid-Atlantic (New Jersey:  NOFA, forthcoming).
  • “Foreword,” in Green Buying Guide for the Northeast (Mothers & Others, 1999).
  • “Foreword,” in Fran McManus, ed., Eating Fresh from the Organic Garden State (New Jersey:  NOFA, 1997).
  • “Ten Steps to Community Self-Reliance,” in Trent Schroyer, ed., A World That Works (New York:  Bootstrap, 1997).
  • “Lilliputian Power: A World Economy As If Community Mattered,” in Marcus Arruda, John Cavanagh, and Daphne Wysham, eds., Beyond Bretton‑Woods (London: Pluto Press, 1994).
  • “Introduction,” in Richard Caplan and John Feffer, eds., State of the Union 1994 (Boulder: Westview, 1994).
  • “A Separate Peace Movement,” in Michael Shuman & Julia Sweig, eds., Conditions of Peace:  An Inquiry (New York: Talman, 1991).
  • “Participatory Peace Policies,” in Chester Hartman & Dan Smith, eds., Paradigms Lost (London:  Pluto Press, 1991).
  • “Participatory Foreign Policy,” in Dan Levitan, ed., Horrendous Death, Health, and Well‑Being (New York:  McGraw‑Hill, 1990).
  • “Effectiveness of the New Diplomats,” in Craig Comstock and Don Carlson, eds., Citizen Summitry (New York:  St. Martin’s Press, 1986) (co‑author).
  • “Acting Globally through Your Locality,” in Citizen Summitry, ibid.
  • Growing the Berea (KY) Economy from the Inside Out (City of Berea, 2012), along with a dozen similar economic-leakage analyses in places noted earlier.
  • The 25% Shift:  The Benefits of Local Food for North East Ohio (Park Works, 2010) (senior co-author), along with a half-dozen similar food studies in places noted earlier.
  • Community Food Enterprise (Wallace Center, 2010) (senior co-author).
  • Buy Annapolis:  A Guide to Locally Owned Business (ProgressivePubs, 2002).
  • Rebuilding Effective Government:  Local-Level Initiatives in Transition (United Nations Development Programme, 2001), (co-editor).
  • Chesapeake Friendly Chicken: Reinventing the Delmarva Poultry Industry (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, December 2000).
  • Financing A Community-Friendly Food System (Kellogg Foundation, 2000).
  • Urban Agriculture, Greenprint #1 (Village Foundation, September 1999).
  • 111 Visionary Program Officers:  A Who’s Who of Progressive Foundations (ProgressivePubs, 1999).
  • Progressive Directory of Organizations in Washington (Progressive Resources, 1997).
  • Community‑Based Development Initiatives (Hague: Towns and Development, 1992).
  • Having International Affairs Your Way:  A Five‑Step Briefing Manual for Citizen Diplomats (CID, January 1986).
  • Living without Harvard:  A Critique of the Harvard Nuclear Study Group”  (CID, November 1983).
  • Building Municipal Foreign Policies:  An Action Handbook , Center for Innovative Diplomacy, 1987.
  • Pacific Northwest Model Energy Plan, Natural Resources Defense Council, 1981 (co‑author).
  • “Local Stock Exchanges and National Stimulus,” in Community Development Investment Review (SF Federal Reserve), 5:2, 2009, pp. 81-84.
  • “Profits for Justice” (with Merrian Fuller), The Nation, 24 January 2005, pp. 13-21.
  • “The End of Globalization?”  Utne Reader, Summer 2002.
  • “My Fellow Lefties:  Stop It with the America-Bashing,” Weekly Standard, 18 February 2002, pp. 13-14.
  • “Why I Won’t Sign,” The Progressive, November 2001, p. 27.
  • “Amazing Shrinking Machines,” New Village Journal, Issue 2, 2000, pp. 17-32.
  • “Who’s Who in Philanthropy:  Lifting the Veil of Secrecy,” Chronicle on Philanthropy, 4 November 1999, p. 73.
  • “Community Entrepreneurship,” Shelterforce, September/October 1999, pp. 10-13/
  • “Community Corporations:  Engines for a New Place-Based Economics,” The Responsive Community, 3:9, Summer 1999,   pp. 50-57.
  • “What’s Wrong with Green Funding in America?,” Orion Afield, Summer 1999, pp. 32-35.
  • “Cheesehead Economics,” Yes!  Journal of Positive Futures, Spring 1999, pp. 30-31.
  • “Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age,” Grassroots Economic Organizing Newsletter, January-February 1999, pp. 1-7.
  • “Food for Thought:  Buying Local Makes Good Economic Sense,” Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Winter 1999,  p. 3.
  • “Progressive Philanthropy Should Cast a Wider Net,” Chronicle on Philanthropy, 5 November 1998, plus follow-up letters (Dec. 3 and Dec. 17) and author’s reply (Jan. 14).
  • “Going Local:  Devolution for Progressives,” The Nation, 12 October 1998,  pp. 11-15.
  • “Cheesehead Economics and Local Ownership,” Orion Afield, Autumn 1998, p. 17.
  • “Why Progressive Funds Give Too Little to Too Many,” The Nation, 12/18 January 1998, plus letters in March 23 issue.
  • “Force for Peace,” The Nation, July 17/24 1995, p. 77.
  • “GATTzilla v. Communities,” Cornell International Law Journal, Winter 1995.
  • “Local Foreign Policy v. Courts,” Foreign Policy, Spring 1992.  Response to letters in Autumn 1992 issue.
  • “What the Founders Really Intended,” Intergovernmental Perspective, Summer 1990.
  • “Grantees Bill of Rights,” Foundation News, March‑April 1989.
  • “Alternative Security,” In Context, January 1989 (co‑ authored with Hal Harvey).
  • “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally,” Nuclear Times, May‑June 1987.
  • “Soviet‑American Citizen Exchange Initiatives,” Nuclear Times, November‑December 1986.
  • “Local Foreign Policies,” Foreign Policy, Winter 1986‑ 87.
  • “The Environmental Catastrophe of Nuclear War,” Not Man Apart, December 1983 (co‑authored with Jim Harding).
  • “The Mouse that Roared,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 1981.  Also see “Response” in April 1981 issue.
  • 2006: Bronze Prize for Best Business Book, Independent Publishers’ Association
  • 1988: Public Service Award, San Francisco State Univ.
  • 1987-90: Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellow
  • 1986: MacArthur Foundation Research & Writing Fellow
  • 1981: Eugene Rabinowitch Essay Award for “How to Prevent Nuclear War” (best of 800 submissions)
  • 1980: Hilmer Oehlmann Award for Legal Brief Writing, Stanford Law School
Michael H. Shuman

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