Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change

"Anyone who finds today's economic debates too small-minded for the immense challenges we face should be drawn to this important work. Only Edmund Phelps would place ultimate blame for the Great Recession on the loss of the right concept of the good life. Phelps has been ahead of his time as an economic thinker for a half century. This may be his deepest, boldest, and most important work."--Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard University"Few scholars have had the capacity to place the concept of the 'good life' in the context of both philosophical and economic thought. That is what Edmund Phelps has done in his masterly analysis of what he terms a 'modern economy, ' once exemplified by Americans' capacity to innovate, to challenge, to dream--and to grow. But he warns that this model needs to be refreshed and changed to restore its potential."--Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve"In this magisterial sweep of historical storytelling, Edmund Phelps draws upon his rich and deep cu