The 2020 Porchlight Big Ideas & New Perspectives Book of the Year

One thing we know for certain as we begin a new year is that we are in desperate need of some big ideas and new persperctives. Going back to "normal" and returning to "business as usual" is a recipe for the disaster of the year we just lived through. But the books of 2020 offer some guidance for how to reconsider, reconcile, and overcome.

The runners up is the Big Ideas & New Perspectives category are: 

• Accountable: The Rise of Citizen Capitalism by Michael O'Leary & Warren Valdmanis, Harper Business
• The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy by Stephanie Kelton, PublicAffairs
• The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health—and How We Must Adapt by Sinan Aral, Currency
• Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire by Rebecca Henderson, PublicAffairs

And the 2020 Porchlight Big Ideas & New Perspectives Book of the Year is The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Women's Empowerment by Linda Scott, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

There are a lot of things to consider when considering the best “Big Ideas” and “New Perspectives” of the year, especially in a year like 2020, but with over two million women leaving the workforce since the pandemic hit, and when “the percent of American women working is the lowest since 1988,” (Heather Long, Washington Post) The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Women’s Empowerment by Linda Scott seems like a good choice. The fact that it can be considered a big idea or new perspective to empower women economically feels shameful, but the unvarnished truth is that: 

Despite accounting for half the species, half the national income, and half the food supply, women are nevertheless treated as bit players by economists and policy makers [and] The opportunity cost of excluding the Double X Economy is always steep.

American capitalism has reached into every corner of the globe to pursue economic growth, but we have yet to look inside ourselves, inside our own hearts, and to our own disadvantaged communities and historically marginalized populations to pursue not only economic growth, but economic justice and true prosperity for all. Linda Scott shows us how we can. As she writes:

Never in history have we had such a vivid blueprint for eliminating suffering, achieving justice, and ensuring peace. Never before has it been possible to troubleshoot one problem and solve so many others. What we would achieve is worth every effort we can make, every new tool we can invent, and any funds we have to invest. Now is the time for women and men to come together and set the Double X Economy free.

As we make plans to rebuild our economy when we get this pandemic under control, I can think of no better way to start than to focus on and invest in all of our people and communities. Focusing on women, and The Double X Economy, might just be the best way to do that.