Most of these books (except Going Local) can be bought at discounted prices online from major retailers or, better still for those committed to independent bookstores, Bookshop.org or IndieBound.
“Put Your Money Where Your Life Is” (Berrett-Koehler, 2020)
Americans are united on one point: Wall Street can no longer be trusted. Yet most of us invest our money in Fortune 500 companies, transferring our capital far from where we live and work. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Local investing expert Michael Shuman shows how anyone can use two well-established—but rarely used—investment tools to keep their money close and see equal or greater returns while supporting their community and values. Shuman explains the nuts and bolts of Self-Directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s and provides a detailed road map on how you can become a successful local investor.
Buy 10 or more at 40% off from Berrett-Koehler
The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing “Pollinator” Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity (Chelsea Green, 2015)
The Local Economy Solution suggests an alternative approach in which states and cities nurture a new generation of special kinds of businesses that help local businesses grow. These cutting-edge companies, which Shuman calls “pollinator businesses,” are creating jobs and the conditions for future economic growth, and doing so in self-financing ways.
“Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity” (Chelsea Green, 2012).
In Local Dollars, Local Sense, local economy pioneer Michael Shuman shows investors, including the nearly 99% who are unaccredited, how to put their money into building local businesses and resilient regional economies-and profit in the process.
“The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition” (Berrett-Koehler, 2006).
In The Small-Mart Revolution, Michael Shuman shows that the benefits of mega-stores and huge corporations that supposedly deliver to communities are illusory. Crunch the numbers and you’ll find that locally owned businesses turn out to be much more reliable generators of good jobs, economic growth, tax dollars, community wealth, charitable contributions, social stability, and political participation.
“Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age” (Routledge, 2000).
Designed to appeal to both activists and public officials, this guide proposes a home-grown, community-based economic strategy meant to revive replica breitling local marketplaces while allowing those small towns to serve the needs of a wide range of citizens. 10,000 first printing.
Michael Shuman & Kate Poole, “Growing Local Living Economies: A Grassroots Approach to Economic Development” (BALLE, 2012). $100 (Available for Download)
A workbook detailing a new approach to economic development from the local economy perspective. Complete with twelve chapters of actionable tasks and hands-on activities, from Entrepreneurship and Community Capital to Public Policy and Local Investment.
