Category: Economics

Lisa Levenstein on Balancing Budgets and Public Employees

The recent events concerning public sector workers in Wisconsin have brought a great deal of reflecting and attention to the ways in which the government, at both the state and national levels, spends and saves money. UNC Press author Lisa Levenstein, with economics doctoral student Jason Brent, wrote an Op-ed in this past Sunday’s Greensboro News & Record on the… Continue Reading Lisa Levenstein on Balancing Budgets and Public Employees

Current Events/Economics/Labor Studies/Politics/UNC Press Authors

October 14, 2010

American Democracy and the Challenge of Globalization

The midterm election campaign now approaching the home stretch has brought with it striking but fairly empty calls to action–from the Tea Party frenzy over fiscal virtue to a president exhorting his base with the banal promise of “moving America forward.” But this and all the other lamentable features of our democracy, it is worth stressing, are nothing new. Many… Continue Reading American Democracy and the Challenge of Globalization

American History/Current Events/Economics/Guest Bloggers/Michael H. Hunt/Politics/Public Policy

October 12, 2010

The University Day Challenge: Innovate!

As we celebrate the University of North Carolina’s 217th anniversary on this University Day, chancellor Holden Thorp introduces a new project called “Innovate@Carolina: Important Ideas for a Better World” to lead the university forward. This three-year roadmap, described in detail at innovation.unc.edu, is designed to “build a culture of innovation that permeates every corner of campus, from the chemist in… Continue Reading The University Day Challenge: Innovate!

Business/Economics/Education/North Carolina/Public Policy/Science

October 8, 2010

UNC system honors Mike Walden for helping make economics easier for the rest of us to understand

Congratulations to Michael Walden, author of North Carolina in the Connected Age: Challenges and Opportunities in a Globalizing Economy, who has just been awarded the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Public Service. The award is intended “to encourage, identify, recognize, and reward distinguished public service and outreach by faculty across the University.” So what has Walden done… Continue Reading UNC system honors Mike Walden for helping make economics easier for the rest of us to understand

Economics/North Carolina/Podcasts/Technology/TSoT/UNC Press Authors

September 16, 2010

Paulo Freire, Lula, and the Next Step for Brazil

We welcome a guest post today from Andrew J. Kirkendall, author of Paulo Freire and the Cold War Politics of Literacy. In his political biography of Freire (1921-97), a native of Brazil’s impoverished northeast who developed adult literacy training techniques that remain influential today, Kirkendall gives new perspectives on the history of the Cold War, the meanings of radicalism, and… Continue Reading Paulo Freire, Lula, and the Next Step for Brazil

Biography / Autobiography/Economics/Education/Guest Bloggers/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Politics/Sociology

Job Programs and Stimulus II: What We Can Learn from New Deal Programs

I’m pleased to have a guest post today from Frank Stricker, author of Why America Lost the War on Poverty — And How to Win It, which we published in 2007. That book focused on the second half of the twentieth century. In his current work, Stricker’s looking more closely at unemployment and job creation, and looking further back in… Continue Reading Job Programs and Stimulus II: What We Can Learn from New Deal Programs

American History/Current Events/Economics/Guest Bloggers/Politics/Public Policy/The Book Biz

Robert McElvaine on The News Hour: reconsidering consumption

I’ve posted a couple of items recently (here and here) about the renewed relevance in these painful economic times of Robert McElvaine’s classic collection of letters written to FDR, Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man. On Friday, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer aired a wonderful segment featuring McElvaine and his book, incorporating some… Continue Reading Robert McElvaine on The News Hour: reconsidering consumption

American History/American Studies/Current Events/Economics/Interviews/Podcasts/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News

Women and Obama’s First 100 Days

What does the Obama presidency mean for women, especially in a time of financial crisis? We’re pleased to have a guest post today from Lisa Levenstein, assistant professor of history at UNC-Greensboro and author of A Movement Without Marches: African American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia, which we will publish May 1 (we’re accepting orders now).… Continue Reading Women and Obama’s First 100 Days

African American Studies/American History/Current Events/Economics/Gender Studies/Guest Bloggers/Politics/Public Policy/Women's Studies

February 23, 2009

Dear Mister President

[ed. note: see updates from 2/24 and 2/25 at bottom of post] ABC reports that President Obama is reading ten letters a day from all kinds of people all across the country, “to help him get outside of the bubble,” says press secretary Robert Gibbs. Each day he is handed a purple envelope containing the day’s selection of letters. Sometimes… Continue Reading Dear Mister President

American History/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Economics/UNC Press News

February 20, 2009

A Stimulus Proposal: Invest in Books

One of the great things about Citizen Journalism is that all of us can take what we think is a Good Idea and put it out into the blogosphere and see if it takes wings. One such idea was forwarded to me by my wonderful wife with the subject line “now this would be a good blog entry for the… Continue Reading A Stimulus Proposal: Invest in Books

American Studies/Business/Economics/Local Indy Booksellers/The Book Biz

December 2, 2008

Major college football: more competitive and cut-throat than the NFL?

Michael Oriard, author of three books on football published by UNC Press (Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle [1998], King Football: Sport and Spectacle in the Golden Age of Radio and Newsreels, Movies and Magazines, the Weekly and the Daily Press [2001], and Brand NFL: Making and Selling America’s Favorite Sport [2006]), has a fourth book… Continue Reading Major college football: more competitive and cut-throat than the NFL?

American History/American Studies/Current Events/Economics/Sports

November 26, 2008

What you can do for your community economy, for cheap!: go local, get books

Okay, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Then comes Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year for retail sales, helping put retailers’ budgets “in the black” at year’s end. This year, however, with the economy in freefall, that post-Turkey Day orgy of consumer consumption is likely to be significantly more modest than in years past. We’re all nervous, we’re all… Continue Reading What you can do for your community economy, for cheap!: go local, get books

Economics/Local Indy Booksellers/The Book Biz

October 31, 2008

Welcome to the neighborhood

I’ve added a few more press blogs to our university press blogroll recently, and I wanted to bring them to your attention and encourage you to go check them out. Island Press focuses on environmental issues. Their Eco-Compass blog features posts by authors discussing green development, conservation, wildlife, sustainability, population growth, and more. NYU Press, whose blog From the Square… Continue Reading Welcome to the neighborhood

Art / Architecture/Economics/Environmental Studies/History/North Carolina

October 13, 2008

Books for Understanding the Economic Crisis

Well, on the news that European governments are jumping in to help their banks continue lending to each other, markets seem to be showing some signs of regaining confidence today. We’ll see how long it holds. For the past couple of weeks — and no doubt for some time still to come — we’ve seen what large scale economic crisis… Continue Reading Books for Understanding the Economic Crisis

Business/Current Events/Economics/The Book Biz

September 18, 2008

“Meet Mike Walden” on the State of Things

If the subject of economics isn’t your strong suit, welcome to the majority! That’s why North Carolina is lucky to have Mike Walden, a professor at NC State and economist with the NC Cooperative Extension Service. Walden is especially good at talking about economics in terms the rest of us can understand. His new book is North Carolina in the… Continue Reading “Meet Mike Walden” on the State of Things

Economics/North Carolina/Podcasts/TSoT

Wall Street fiction(?)

With the real-life dramas unfolding on Wall Street these days, it’s only a matter of time before we witness a bumper crop of novels and thrillers set in the high-stakes financial world. David Zimmerman has written about the connections between novels and markets in an earlier period of American history

American History/Business/Current Events/Economics/History/Literature