Because People Matter: Building an Economy for Everyone

Jurriaan Kamp

Dec 2002 · Cosimo, Inc.

About this ebook

Our economy is focused on growth and profit. In any given business, success is measured by the flow of money, not the interest of the people involved. In Because People Matter, author Jurriaan Kamp tells us why there are better alternatives. Kamp argues that the world economy is not only based on money, but on human choices as well. It is those human choices that can promote the change necessary to transform our current crisis into a healthier economy that serves everyone. He offers insights on subjects such as a new method of dealing with national income; taxing the use of raw materials rather than income; a world trade based on reciprocity; money without interest; and the liability of shareholders and managers for negligence and environmental damage. Borrowing ideas from prominent economists, Kamp offers a coherent set of conditions for an economy in which it is the people that matter. Jurriaan Kamp is the former chief economics editor of NRC Handelsblad, a prominent Dutch newspaper, and is the founder and editor of the magazine Ode. "A wonderful and concise handbook of how modern economic theory has dealt a body blow to the prospect of a humane world. Jurriaan kamp also shows the vectors of change that can lead us away from being economic ciphers to a system that enlivens and redefines what it means to be a human being." Paul Hawken, Environmentalist, entrepreneur and best-selling author of The Ecology of Commerce "A powerfully persusaive chronicle of why opposition to the current brand of globalization is certain to grow." Jeff Gates, author of The Ownership Solution and Democracy at Risk