Martha Starr is Assistant Professor at American University, USA. She is the co-editor on the Review of Social Economics journal and on the editorial board of Journal of Economics Issues and Journal of Pluralism and Economic Education. Starr's research interests are consumption, saving, wealth, macroeconomics, monetary policy, developing and emerging-market countries, and social economics.

Introduction Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Economic Policy Socio-distributional Aspects of Economic Downturn Social Economy and the Economic Downturn Food, Shelter, and Health

The 2007-09 financial crisis and economic downturn inflicted considerable hardship on the U.S. population. This book argues that the financial crisis and ensuing recession reflected not just a malfunctioning of the financial system - but also inequalities and insecurities in access to livelihoods that favor well-off groups and leave ordinary people shouldering undue burdens of downside risk. This book, a collection of original papers by leading social economists and scholars in related fields, examines social, distributional, and ethical dimensions of the downturn. It should be of broad interest to the social-science and economic-policy communities.