Faculty member's book selected for inclusion on core academic list for 2008

Feb. 23, 2009 -- A book authored by Dr. Christopher Brown, professor of economics at Arkansas State University, has been selected by Yankee Book Peddler (YBP) Library Services and online magazine Academia for inclusion on the list of core academic books for 2008.

Brown’s book, entitled “Inequality, Consumer Credit, and the Saving Puzzle” (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2008, 200 pages), presents a vision of an economy evolved to greater reliance on consumer credit for growth. The book develops the argument that the harmful consequences of income inequality have been partially lessened or postponed as an effect of a sharp increase in the scale of borrowing by U.S. households since 1987.

YBP Library Services serves 6,000 customers, including a majority of academic research libraries, while Academia is a resource for academic librarians. Only two percent (1,000 for the United States and 300 for the United Kingdom) of approximately 70,000 academic titles of all disciplines are published each year in the U.S. and U.K., and are selected as “core” books. “Core” books mean they have been judged as major titles that will stand the test of time and are expected to be contained within good collections.

Brown’s book investigates the importance of recent financial innovations, such as the securing of consumer loans and subprime lending, in increasing the borrowing power of households at all income levels.

The book analyzes the tradeoffs and risks associated with consumer credit dependence, such as the potential for illiquidity in markets for debt-collateralized securities, subprime contagion, or the possibility of a Minsky-type debt deflation episode catalyzed by a deterioration of household balance sheets.

For more information, visit the YBP Library Services at www.ybp.com/acad/Core1000Cover.htm.  

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