Progress or Collapse? New Book Explains Why Market Greed Fails Us All

DAVIS, Calif., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Economic progress is heading towards collapse: climate change, peak oil, overpopulation, excessive consumption of natural resources, global financial instability, startling economic inequalities, widespread political inertia, civic disengagement and psychosocial degradation. The global economy is like a train, without a driver, approaching a precipice. How can we change its direction?

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This is the question tackled by Roberto De Vogli's new book Progress or Collapse: The Crises of Market Greed, an irreverent journey on the crises casting shadows over the future of modern civilization. Unlike other books focused on just the symptoms of these global problems, Progress or Collapse addresses instead their root cause: the market greed doctrine.

For the past decades, the globalization of "market greed" engaged individuals, companies and states everywhere in a frantic race for profit and wealth. It made people more selfish, materialistic, socially alienated and ecologically unfriendly. It encouraged corporations and nations to consume, pollute and expand as if there is no tomorrow. The consequences of this philosophy of progress are now gathering in the air like the clouds of a coming storm. How can we stop progress toward collapse?

The book offers a list of down-to-earth policy solutions to promote an ecologically sustainable and psychosocially fulfilling society. De Vogli argues that the world's prospects now depend on repudiating the "market greed" driving our economies and our psyches, and then crafting a new model of development where profit and wealth can be instrumental to health, wellbeing, creativity and solidarity.

"Humanity is at a crossroad," explains De Vogli. "It is up to us to decide whether we prefer risking collapse than shifting society's direction toward human, rather than economic growth. However, one thing is for sure: we can either have human progress or market greed, but not both."

The book is available at: http://www.amazon.com/Progress-Collapse-Crises-Market-Greed/dp/041551018X

For more information go to: www.progressorcollapse.com

About the author

Roberto De Vogli is an associate professor in global health at the University of California Davis and University College London. Before moving to California, he worked for different international organizations including the World Bank and the World Health Organization. He published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals such as The Lancet, British Medical Journal and New England Journal of Medicine. His research has been covered by media outlets such as the BBC, LA Times, Reuters, NBC and Associated Press.

For review copies and interviews contact:

Prof. Roberto De Vogli, PhD, MPH    
Associate Professor in Global Health and Political Economy    
School of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis    
Tel: +1 (530) 752 4853    
Email: rdevogli(at)ucdavis.edu

SOURCE Roberto De Vogli