Michael H. Shuman is the Director of Community Portals for Mission Markets and a Fellow at Cutting Edge Capital and Post-Carbon Institute.  He is a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He is also an adjunct instructor in community economic development for Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and is one of the architects of the crowdfunding reforms that became the “JOBS Act,” signed into law by President Obama in April 2012.

An economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur, Shuman is one of the nation’s leading experts on community economics and the advantages of small-scale businesses in an era of globalization. A prolific speaker, Shuman has given talks mostly to local governments and universities, for 30 years—in 47 states and eight countries.  He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, such as the Lehrer News Hour and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

He delivered this speech at the 27th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 2007.

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