Paper Boom
Why Real Prosperity Requires a New Approach to Canada's Economy
by Jim Stanford
Paper Boom is a wide-ranging examination of the Canadian economy in the 1990s, highlighting the contrast between a booming paper economy and a stagnant real economy.
At the end of the 1990s, high finance in Canada experienced an unprecedented boom: the stock market, banks, and mutual funds were are all growing at a record rate.
Author Jim Stanford examines the world of high finance in this revealing book. Although the sale and purchase of financial assets grew exponentially during the nineties, the performance of the real economy was dismal by comparison. Stagnant production of real goods and services failed to keep up with explosive growth in the world of finance. Paper Boom examines alternative policy directions with regard to real investment, job creation, and productivity.
Paper Boom is a wide-ranging examination of the Canadian economy in the 1990s, highlighting the contrast between a booming paper economy and a stagnant real economy.
Author Jim Stanford examines the world of high finance in this revealing book. Although the sale and purchase of financial assets grew exponentially during the nineties, the performance of the real economy was dismal by comparison. Stagnant production of real goods and services failed to keep up with explosive growth in the world of finance. Paper Boom examines alternative policy directions with regard to real investment, job creation, and productivity.
Paper Boom is a wide-ranging examination of the Canadian economy in the 1990s, highlighting the contrast between a booming paper economy and a stagnant real economy.
About the Author
Reviews
"The book is a timely, impressively researched and accessible analysis of one of the most obscure and important components of capitalist economy - the financial system. Stanford provides a devastating critique of Canada's booming paper economy and right-wing economic policies, but not without challenging many ideas widely held on the left. I found myself cheering for Stanford with every blow he deals the financial Goliath. He brilliantly exposes how the financial sector, with its focus on paper trading, fails to channel savings into real job-creating and socially useful investments - the ostensible reason for its existence. He explodes the myth of 'people's capitalism'... for the long term, he puts forward a visionary, alternative model of social investment. Stanford's ideas are well worth wrestling with. Invest in this book."
Andres Hayden, Briarpatch
