In the wake of the financial crisis, investors are faced with a stark choice: entrust their hard-earned dollars to the Wall Street casino, or settle for anemic interest rates on savings, bonds, and CDs. Meanwhile, small businesses are being starved for the credit and capital they need to grow. There's got to be a better way.
In Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It, Amy Cortese takes us inside the local investing movement, where solutions to some of the nation's most pressing problems are taking shape. The idea is that, by investing in local businesses, rather than faceless conglomerates, investors can earn profits while building healthy, self-reliant communities.
With confidence in Wall Street and the government badly shaken, Americans are looking for alternatives. Local investing offers a way to rebuild our nest eggs, communities, and, just perhaps, our country.
Introduction: Cereal Milk for the Gods xv
Part One The Economics of Local 1
Chapter 1 Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Political Theatre 3
How We Are Failing Our Small Businesses
Chapter 2 Blue Skies, Pipe Dreams, and the Lure of Easy Money 19
Our Financial Legacy and its Unintended Consequences
Chapter 3 Buy Local, Eat Local . . . Invest Local 31
Reconnecting Investors and Businesses
Chapter 4 The Local Imperative 47
Leveling the Playing Field
Part Two Experiments in Citizen Finance 63
Chapter 5 The Last Real Banker? 65
Relationship Banking Is Not Dead - Yet
Chapter 6 The Biggest-Impact Financial Sector You’ve Never Heard Of 79
Community Development Loan Funds Reach Out to Individual Investors
Chapter 7 A Model to LIONize 95
How One Pacifi c Northwest Town Engineered a Quiet Revival
Chapter 8 Community Capital 105
It Takes a Village, or a Police Force, or Perhaps Some Farmers
Chapter 9 Pennies from Many 125
When Social Networking Met Finance
Chapter 10 Slow Money 147
Finance for Foodsheds
Chapter 11 From Brown Rice to Biofuels 159
Co-ops on the Cutting Edge
Chapter 12 The Do-It-Yourself Public Offering 181
The Allure of Public Venture Capital
Chapter 13 Back to the Future 199
The Rebirth of the Local Stock Exchange
Conclusion 221
Notes 227
Acknowledgments 243
Index 245
