For a Responsible Economy

Following a brief examination of the main cause of the current economic downturn, namely the unequal distribution of wealth, the book individuates as a possible way to move forward out of the crisis that of pushing businesses to assume a more socially responsible conduct. But it is not up to the class of workers, disenfranchised by the process of globalization, to demand this more ethical conduct from businesses, it is up to another class: that of consumers. If they were to become more fully aware of their power to make a difference, with the adoption of various tools to help them exercise a more conscious consumption, they would be able to motivate companies in more ethical business practices, which would then lead to the substantiation of a Responsible Economy. A change of course in the conduct of businesses, as well as desirable for the redistribution of created wealth in the community, is entirely necessary due to the environmental and energetic unsustainability of the current neoliberal model, as based on an obsolete indicator such as GDP.