Reclaiming Capital: Democratic Initiatives and Community Development

by Christopher Gunn, Hazel Gunn

Towns without nationally advertised fast-food restaurants often eagerly await the day when the golden arches sprout next door to the local car dealership. But what really happens to a community with the arrival of the uni-burger? Christopher Gunn and Hazel Dayton Gunn demonstrate that perhaps three-quarters of the money a community spends at its burger emporium will leave the area. Poor communities remain poor, they assert, because local capital tends to be drained off to financial centers, corporate accounts, and stockholders' portfolios. In keeping with ecologists' injunction to "think globally and act locally," this imaginative book documents ways in which communities have counteracted constraints of the capitalist economic system and succeeded in promoting democratic control of their resources. Taking as one example the local impact of a new McDonald's restaurant, Gunn and Gunn first illustrate how capital potentially available for community development may be identified. They then explore a variety of alternative institutions―credit unions, nonprofit corporations, and consumers' and workers' cooperatives, among others―that serve to attract and retain resources, foster growth, and extend public control over the development process. The authors also consider how grassroots activism for social change may be integrated with more conventional political practice. Reclaiming Capital will be a vital resource for activists, elected officials, and others concerned with urban and regional planning.

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[L L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to his other book Third Sector Development, Gunn explores ways to reclaim capital for investment and use within a community. To set the context, Gunn describes the way in which capital is internationally mobile and flows to the area of greatest return. Communities who wish to attract firms often do so at their own detriment—lax labour and environmental standards or tax incentives. Frequently, firms who do locate within a community do not provide the benefits promised. For instance, Gunn assesses how much of the economic benefits generated by the opening of a new MacDonald’s restaurant are actually retained by the community. For the rest of the book, he describes the efforts of different community institutions in reclaiming capital for improving their own communities. This book is clear and well-written even for those unfamiliar with economics or development. It is an excellent introduction for thinking more critically about how capital flows in the world and how it affects different communities.

[Dwight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this back in grad school but have been wanting to revisit it. Basically it's an analytical case study of a McDonald's in a poor urban community, that attempts to quantify the portion of revenues and profits that stay in and help develop the community vs flow out to shareholders, absentee manager/landlords, etc. As the BigBoxes have increasingly taken over, leveling (as in razing) the business landscape around them, this perspective is needed more than ever.