Resources

Recently Published

The Squandering of America Robert Kuttner looks at the consolidation of political and economic power by a narrow elite. The result, he says, has been to make our society not only less democratic but less prosperous. (Random House)

Executive Excess 2007: The Staggering Cost of U.S. Business Leadership. By Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, Chuck Collins, Mike Lapham and Sam Pizzigati. The 14th annual CEO pay study by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well? By John E. Morton and Isabel V. Sawhill. "From the hopes of the earliest settlers to the aspirations of today's diverse population, the American Dream unites us in a common quest for individual and national success. But new data suggest that this once solid ground may well be shifting." (Pew Charitable Trusts/Economic Mobility Project)

Falling Behind. By Robert H. Frank. The author of "Luxury Fever," "The Winner-Take-All Society," and "Choosing the Right Pond" argues that our sense of material wellbeing "depends always and everywhere on context" -- on a conscious or unconscious comparison with what our neighbors have and what we used to have.

The Moral Measure of the Economy . By Chuck Collins and Mary Wright. Looking at the economy with the gospel as a yardstick. (Orbis)

Online Resources

ACORN

ACORN Living Wage Resource Center

Campaign for America’s Future

Center for American Progress

Center for Popular Economics Center for Public Policy Priorities

Center for Popular Economics

Center for Study of Working Class Life

Class Matters

Common Cause

Demos

Economic Policy Institute

Good Jobs First

Institute for Policy Studies

NAACP

National Priorities Project

Public Campaign

Who RulesAmerica

Too Much

United for a Fair Economy

Books and Reports

Beyond the Conservative Nanny State: Policies to Promote Self-Sufficiency Among the Wealthy . By Dean Baker. (Center for Economic Policy Research, July 2006)

Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons . By Peter Barnes. (Barrett Koehler, 2006)

The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide . By Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer and Rebecca Adamson.

Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity . By Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel. (New Press, 2006)

The Evolution of Top Incomes . By Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. Summarizes the findings of the latest analysis of top income and wealth shares over the past century and for a number of countries using tax statistics.

Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality That Limits Our Lives . By Sam Pizzigati. (Apex Press, 2004)

I Didn't Do It Alone: Society's Contribution to Individual Wealth and Success . Leading entrepreneurs challenge the myth of "self-made" success and discuss the social and economic infrastructure of wealth creation. By Chuck Collins, Mike Lapham and Scott Klinger. (Responsible Wealth)

The Impact of Inequality. How to Make Sick Societies Healthier . By Richard Wilkinson. New Press, 2005

Inequality and Household Economic Hardship in the United States . By Heather Boushey and Christian Weller. (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. April 2006.)

The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class and Gender. Edited by David B. Grusky and Szonja Szelenyi. Dollars & Sense, 2006

Social Inequality .Edited by Kathryn Niederman. (Russell Sage Foundation, 2005)

Spending Millions to Save Billions: The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax . By Conor Kenny, Taylor Lincoln, and Chuck Collins; United for a Fair Economy and Public Citizen April 2006).

Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead . By Tamara Draut. (Random House, 2006)

Trends in Earnings Variability Over the Past 20 Years . By Molly Dahl, Thomas DeLeire, and Jonathan Schwabish. (Congressional Budget Office, 2007)

Understanding Mobility in America . By Thomas Hertz. (Center for American Progress, 2006)

Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success. Edited by Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, and Melissa Osborne Groves. Essays by Bhashkar Mazunder, David J. Harding, Anders Björklund, Markus Jäntti, Gary Solon, Tom Hertz, John C. Loehlin, Melissa Osborne Groves, Marcus W. Feldman and Adam Swift. (Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press, 2005)

The Wealth Inequality Reader . Preface by Jesse Jackson Jr. Edited by Betsy Leondar-Wright, Amy Offner, Adria Scharf, and Meizhu Lui. Contributors include Gar Alperovitz, Peter Barnes, Chuck Collins, Bill Fletcher, Ellen Frank, William Greider, Paul Krugman, Meizhu Lui, and Kevin Phillips. (Dollars & Sense, 2004)

Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America. By Jason C. Booza, Jackie Cutsinger, and George Galster. (Brookings Institution/Urban Institute, 2006) ?>