A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions

A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and bestselling author of Banker to the Poor offers his vision of an emerging new economic system that can save humankind and the planet Muhammad Yunus, who created microcredit, invented social business, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in alleviating poverty, is one of today's most trenchant social critics. Now he declares it's time to admit that the capitalist engine is broken -- that in its current form it inevitably leads to rampant inequality, massive unemployment, and environmental destruction. We need a new economic system that unleashes altruism as a creative force just as powerful as self-interest. Is this a pipe dream? Not at all. In the last decade, thousands of people and organizations have already embraced Yunus's vision of a new form of capitalism, launching innovative social businesses designed to serve human needs rather than accumulate wealth. They are bringing solar energy to millions of homes in Bangladesh; turning thousands of unemployed young people into entrepreneurs through equity investments; financing female-owned businesses in cities across the United States; bringing mobility, shelter, and other services to the rural poor in France; and creating a global support network to help young entrepreneurs launch their start-ups. In A World of Three Zeros, Yunus describes the new civilization emerging from the economic experiments his work has helped to inspire. He explains how global companies like McCain, Renault, Essilor, and Danone got involved with this new economic model through their own social action groups, describes the ingenious new financial tools now funding social businesses, and sketches the legal and regulatory changes needed to jumpstart the next wave of socially driven innovations. And he invites young people, business and political leaders, and ordinary citizens to join the movement and help create the better world we all dream of.

About the Author :
Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and more than fifty other companies in Bangladesh. He is widely known as both the father of microcredit and of the social business movement. In 2006, Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is one of only seven individuals to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal. Yunus is the recipient of fifty-five honorary degrees from universities in twenty countries, and has received 112 awards from twenty-six countries, including state honors from ten countries. Dan Woren is an American voice actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He has worked extensively in animation, video games, and feature films. He is best known for his many roles in anime productions such as Bleach and as the voice of Sub-Zero in the video game Mortal Kombat.

Review :
A book to make Wall Street quake.-- "Kirkus Reviews" "A book to make Wall Street quake--if Wall Street paid attention to the developing world...The author's reforms, he insists, will yield an economic system that more closely corresponds to who humans really are: partners and not predators. The author's humane proposal for economic reform, far from impractical, makes for provocative reading." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Confidence and idealism...come across in Dan Woren's narration. His tonal and phrasing palette works well as Yunus, an activist Bangladeshi banker and economist, addresses global poverty through microlending and other forms of social capitalism." -- "AudioFile" "Optimism permeates his argument that the capitalist system's economic framework, driven by personal interest, is broken and must be redesigned...The book is packed with true-life examples, many from Yunus' own experiences with Grameen Bank...[and] offers sound recommendations to distribute global wealth more equitably through individual and systemic support for small-scale entrepreneurship." -- "Publishers Weekly" "Yunus pioneered the concept of microcredit in the 1970s and 1980s and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Since then he's come to believe that capitalism today is broken. In his new book, Yunus makes the case for a new system, based on serving human needs, not maximizing profit, that should take its place." -- "Fortune" "Yunus sets as goals eliminating poverty, unemployment, and environmental degradation. He demonstrates the possibilities of his vision with myriad examples...With wealth disparity an ongoing global concern, Yunus' inspiring and hopeful message is a must-read for all readers with even a semblance of economic literacy." -- "Library Journal (starred review)" With wealth disparity an ongoing global concern, Yunus's inspiring and hopeful message is a must-read for all readers with even a semblance of economic literacy."--Library Journal, starred