Peter Barnes does a masterful job in re-imagining economics to take account of the commons, the shared resources that we inherit together and must pass along undiminished to our children. This book is lucid and highly readable as it deconstructs key flaws in conventional economics and proposes innovative solutions that protect the commons. Barnes is a former businessman (cofounder of Working Assets) and journalist, so he approaches the subject with sophistication and clarity.

Barnes notes, for example, that conventional economics typically fails to account for the hidden subsidies that companies take from the commons (air, water, spectrum, public lands, federal R&D, etc.). Companies also use the commons as a convenient place to "externalize" their wastes, social disruptions and other costs. Barnes suggests some new legal and institutionl strategies — such as stakeholder trusts — as ways to harness market forces while preserving our "common wealth." This book is succinct, profound, idealistic and practical.