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Before the twentieth century, personal debt resided on the
fringes of the American economy, the province of small-time
criminals and struggling merchants. By the end of the century,
however, the most profitable corporations and banks in the country
lent money to millions of American debtors. How did this happen?
The first book to follow the history of personal debt in modern
America, "Debtor Nation" traces the evolution of debt over the
course of the twentieth century, following its transformation from
fringe to mainstream--thanks to federal policy, financial
innovation, and retail competition.
How did banks begin making personal loans to consumers during
the Great Depression? Why did the government invent mortgage-backed
securities? Why was all consumer credit, not just mortgages, tax
deductible until 1986? Who invented the credit card? Examining the
intersection of government and business in everyday life, Louis
Hyman takes the reader behind the scenes of the institutions that
made modern lending possible: the halls of Congress, the boardrooms
of multinationals, and the back rooms of loan sharks. America's
newfound indebtedness resulted not from a culture in decline, but
from changes in the larger structure of American capitalism that
were created, in part, by the choices of the powerful--choices that
made lending money to facilitate consumption more profitable than
lending to invest in expanded production.
From the origins of car financing to the creation of subprime
lending, "Debtor Nation" presents a nuanced history of consumer
credit practices in the United States and shows how little loans
became big business.
Consuming with a conscience is one of the fastest growing forms of
political participation worldwide. Every day we make decisions
about how to spend our money and, for the socially conscious, these
decisions matter. Political consumers "buy green" for the
environment or they "buy pink" to combat breast cancer. They
boycott Taco Bell to support migrant workers or Burger King to save
the rainforest. But can we overcome the limitations of consumer
identity, the conservative pull of consumer choice, co-optation by
corporate marketers, and other pitfalls of consumer activism in
order to marshal the possibilities of consumer power? Can we, quite
literally, shop for change? Shopping for Change brings together the
historical and contemporary perspectives of academics and activists
to show readers what has been possible for consumer activists in
the past and what might be possible for today's consumer
activists.Contributors Kyle Asquith, University of Windsor; Dawson
Barrett, Del Mar College; Lawrence Black, University of York;
Madeline Brambilla, Northeastern University; Joshua Carreiro,
Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, MA; H. Louise
Davis, Miami University; Jeffrey Demsky, San Bernardino Valley
College; Tracey Deutsch, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Mara
Einstein, Queens College, CUNY; Bart Elmore, University of Alabama;
Sarah Elvins, University of Manitoba; Daniel Faber, Northeastern
University; Julie Guard, University of Manitoba; Louis Hyman, ILR
School, Cornell University; Meredith Katz, Virginia Commonwealth
University; Randall Kaufman, Miami Dade College-Homestead Campus;
Larry Kirsh, IMR Health Economics, Portland, OR; Katrina Lacher,
University of Central Oklahoma; Bettina Liverant, University of
Calgary; Amy Lubitow, Portland State University; Robert N. Mayer,
University of Utah; Michelle McDonald, Stockton University; Wendy
Wiedenhoft Murphy, John Carroll University; Mark W. Robbins, Del
Mar College; Jessica Stewart, Cornell University;Joseph Tohill,
York University and Ryerson University; Allison Ward, Queen's
University and McMaster University; Philip Wight, Brandeis
University
In this lively history of consumer debt in America, economic
historian Louis Hyman demonstrates that today's problems are not as
new as we think.
"Borrow" examines how the rise of consumer borrowing--virtually
unknown before the twentieth century--has altered our culture and
economy. Starting in the years before the Great Depression,
increased access to money raised living standards but also
introduced unforeseen risks. As lending grew more and more
profitable, it displaced funds available for business borrowing,
setting our economy on an unsustainable course. Told through the
vivid stories of individuals and institutions affected by these
changes, "Borrow" charts the collision of commerce and culture in
twentieth-century America, giving an historical perspective on what
is new--and what is not--in today's economic turmoil.
A Paperback Original
From the vantage point of the United States or Western Europe,
the 1970s was a time of troubles: economic "stagflation," political
scandal, and global turmoil. Yet from an international perspective
it was a seminal decade, one that brought the reintegration of the
world after the great divisions of the mid-twentieth century. It
was the 1970s that introduced the world to the phenomenon of
"globalization," as networks of interdependence bound peoples and
societies in new and original ways.
The 1970s saw the breakdown of the postwar economic order and
the advent of floating currencies and free capital movements.
Non-state actors rose to prominence while the authority of the
superpowers diminished. Transnational issues such as environmental
protection, population control, and human rights attracted
unprecedented attention. The decade transformed international
politics, ending the era of bipolarity and launching two great
revolutions that would have repercussions in the twenty-first
century: the Iranian theocratic revolution and the Chinese market
revolution.
"The Shock of the Global" examines the large-scale structural
upheaval of the 1970s by transcending the standard frameworks of
national borders and superpower relations. It reveals for the first
time an international system in the throes of enduring
transformations.
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