In the shared cellars at Jasper Hill Farm, cheese from their own creamery and others around the area ripen.
Credit: Jasper Hill Farm.

It is increasingly apparent that today’s economy is not working for most of us. Growing inequality of wealth and income is putting the famous American middle class in danger of becoming a distant memory. Most American children now face economic prospects worse than their parents enjoyed. We suffer from more frequent financial shocks and linger in recession far longer than in the past.Our education and health care systems don’t stack up to those of other countries with similar living standards. And if all this were not enough, environmental destruction continues to escalate as we stand on the verge of triggering irreversible, and perhaps cataclysmic, climate change.

One key lesson that emerges about these innovations is the importance of good, old-fashioned, face-to-face relationships.

Yet, beneath the radar […]