Marketing targeted at kids is virtually everywhere -- in classrooms and textbooks, on the Internet, even at Girl Scout meetings, slumber parties, and the playground. Product placement and other innovations have introduced more subtle advertising to movies and television. Drawing on her own survey research and unprecedented access to the advertising industry, Juliet B. Schor, "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Overworked American, " examines how marketing efforts of vast size, scope, and effectiveness have created "commercialized children." Ads and their messages about sex, drugs, and food affect not just what children want to buy, but who they think they are. In this groundbreaking and crucial book, Schor looks at the consequences of the commercialization of childhood and provides guidelines for parents and teachers. What is at stake is the emotional and social well-being of our children.
Like Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed, " Mary Pipher's "Reviving Ophelia, " and Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point, Born to Buy" is a major contribution to our understanding of a contemporary trend and its effects on the culture.

WIDER The World Institute for Development Economics Research, established in 1984, started work in Helsinki in 1985, with the financial support of the Government of Finland. Its principal purpose is to help identify and meet the need for policy-oriented socio-economic research on pressing global and developmental problems and their inter-relationships. WIDER's research projects are grouped into three main themes: hunger and poverty; money, finance, and trade; and development and technological transformation. The 1980s ushered in a `globalization' of finance, and governments began rejecting the task of engaging in international financial management. A new doctrine - global neoclassicism - arose, based on the idea that government regulation of financial markets was futile and foolish. The authors of this book tackle the question of whether national policy autonomy is still possible, in the process challenging the new orthodoxy, and the dangers attendant upon deregulation. They explore the `political economy' of financial openness, and the political nature of recent developments such as the ascendency of private financial interests and a reduced role for government regulation. The book includes both general historical and theoretical approaches, as well as case studies of various countries, such as Australia, Mexico, and Pakistan. It represents a major contribution in the political economy of international finance.

The period after World War Two, with its sustained growth and high employment rate, has been referred to as the "golden age" of capitalism. Blending historical analysis with economic theory, this work presents essays that scrutinize the institutions that fostered this growth and high employment as well as the forces which later undermined the effectiveness of these institutions in the 1960s and 70s. The authors discuss the evolution of the historical background, the macroeconomic structure, the international order, the systems of production, as well as the "rules of coordination." They use this to show that the golden age, like other historical epochs, must be understood as a series of interacting institutions--all operating in different areas, but sometimes interlocking with one another and crucial to an intelligent analysis of a critical period in the American experience. Contributors include A. Glyn, A. Hughes, A. Lipietz, A. Singh, G. Epstein, J. Schor, S. Marglin, A. Bhaduri, S. Bowles, R. Boyer, R. Rowthorn, and M. Aoki.

Higher Education: Open for Business addresses a problem in higher learning, which is newly recognized in the academic spotlight: the overcommercialization of higher education. The book asks that you, the reader, think about the following: Did you go to a Coke or Pepsi school? Do your children attend a Nike or Adidas school? Is the college in your town a Dell or Gateway campus? These questions should not be a primary concern for students, parents or faculty in an environment that has to allow students to freely focus on learning. But in a time of fiscal uncertainty, can higher education ignore the benefits of commercial ventures? It may seem foolish to do so. However, commercialism has gotten too close to certain aspects of academia such as the campus environment, classroom activities, academic research, and college sports. This disturbing encroachment of academic ground is addressed in Higher Education: Open for Business by a diverse host of authors who are closely involved in higher learning.

Higher Education: Open for Business addresses a problem in higher learning, which is newly recognized in the academic spotlight: the overcommercialization of higher education. The book asks that you, the reader, think about the following: Did you go to a Coke or Pepsi school? Do your children attend a Nike or Adidas school? Is the college in your town a Dell or Gateway campus? These questions should not be a primary concern for students, parents or faculty in an environment that has to allow students to freely focus on learning. But in a time of fiscal uncertainty, can higher education ignore the benefits of commercial ventures? It may seem foolish to do so. However, commercialism has gotten too close to certain aspects of academia such as the campus environment, classroom activities, academic research, and college sports. This disturbing encroachment of academic ground is addressed in Higher Education: Open for Business by a diverse host of authors who are closely involved in higher learning.

The Overspent American explores why so many of us feel materially dissatisfied, why we work staggeringly long hours and yet walk around with ever-present mental "wish lists" of things to buy or get, and why Americans save less than virtually anyone in the world. Unlike many experts, Harvard economist Juliet B. Schor does not blame consumers' lack of self-discipline. Nor does she blame advertisers. Instead she analyzes the crisis of the American consumer in a culture where spending has become the ultimate social art.

This pathbreaking book explains why, contrary to all expectations, Americans are working harder than ever. Juliet Schor presents the astonishing news that over the past twenty years our working hours have increased by the equivalent of one month per year,a dramatic spurt that has hit everybody: men and women, professionals as well as low-paid workers. Why are we,unlike every other industrialized Western nation,repeatedly "choosing" money over time? And what can we do to get off the treadmill?

A groundbreaking statement about ecological decline, suggesting a radical change in how we think about consumer goods, value, and ways to live.

In "True Wealth," economist Juliet B. Schor rejects the sacrifice message, with the insight that social innovations and new technology can simultaneously enhance our lives and protect the planet. Schor shares examples of urban farmers, DIY renovators, and others working outside the conventional market to illuminate the path away from the work-and-spend cycle and toward a new world rich in time, creativity, information, and community.