One of the most influential drivers of localization worldwide is the Transition Towns movement, launched by Rob Hopkins in the United Kingdom, which has inspired initiatives in literally thousands of communities.  “The Transition Network,” according to its web site, “is a charitable organisation whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as

Last week, I gave a lunchtime talk to the board of the Fresh Sound Foundation in New York City, where I was asked to help this small family philanthropy think about how it could best assist the local economy movement. I thought this was a really interesting question, because depending on one’s perspective, it meant

  I’m pleased to report that crowdfunding reform has just reached an important milestone in the state where I live—Maryland.  Legislation just passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Marty O’Malley now allows every Maryland resident to lend up to $100 to any local business with virtually no legal hassles whatsoever.  The fact

Over the past year probably a dozen current or aspiring state legislators have asked me for advice on what kinds of legislation they might advocate that could support local living economies.  While there’s a long list that comes to mind, here are my top ten items.  (I’ve excluded from this reforms related to community capital

This past November one of three Sveriges Riksbank Prizes in Economic Sciences went the Professor Robert Shiller of Yale.  After years of giving its award to various University of Chicago Neanderthals, the Nobel Prize Committee finally made an inspired choice, picking a scholar whose work has shown that the returns from mainstream stock markets have

Over the coming weeks, the long-awaited green light from the Securities Exchange Commission will usher in a new era of crowdfunding in the United States.   But a surprising new development in the field  is that many companies may turn to crowdfunding, not just for to raise capital, but to raise their profile. My friend Jason