Business, Economics and Finance

Consumer advocate Alice Tepper Marlin. Marlin's executive director of the Council on Economic Priorities and one of the authors of "Shopping For a Better World: A Quick and Easy Guide to Socially Responsible Supermarket Shopping." The guide helps consumers choose what items to buy, based on the environmental, social, and employment practices of the manufacturers. The guide rates more than 1800 supermarket items and 168 companies for factors such as environment, employee family benefits, ties to South Africa, and management opportunities for women.

Journalist Bryan Burrough. He co-wrote "Barbarians at the Gate," which chronicles the RJR Nabisco takeover, the largest leveraged buyout in Wall Street history. The deal was financed by Drexel Burnham Lambert, which filed this week for bankruptcy. Burrough and his co-author John Helyar covered the takeover from the beginning as reporters for the Wall Street Journal.

Investigative reporter David Burnham. His new book, "A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics and the IRS," takes a critical look at the Internal Revenue Service, which Burnham calls "the single most powerful instrument of social control in the United States." Burnham's previous book, "The Rise of the Computer State," is about the threat to democracy posed by the collection and storage of data by government agencies.

Business executive Max DePree. DePree turned his company, a once obscure office furniture manufacturer, into the "nation's most admired corporation" (according to Fortune magazine). DePree has just published his thoughts on enlightened management in a new book called, "Leadership Is An Art." Whereas most management books these days push an Attila the Hun approach, DePree's is closer to Saint Francis of Assisi.

Writer and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich (air-en-RIKE). Her new book, "Fear of Falling," examines the middle class in America and the many myths associated with it. Her articles and essays appear in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Ms magazine, and Mother Jones.

Author and humorist Paul Rudnick sees shopping as a reward, a way of exploring different cultures, and an enjoyable activity in its own right. His new novel, inspired by his many shopping trips with his mother, is called I'll Take It.

Writer Stuart Brand joins Fresh Air to talk about the technology-focused business culture that's developing in the Bay Area. He says it's turned San Francisco into a kind of global frontier town.

Business writer Rosabeth Moss Kantor says the past decade's trends of rugged individualism in the workplace and excessively long hours are unsustainable. Looking ahead, she believes corporations should be leaner, foster an independent an entrepreneurial spirit in its employees, and allow for a better work-life balance.

Hernando de Soto says that the inefficient and often corrupt bureaucratic system in Peru makes starting a legal business nearly impossible for most people. As a result, a robust, informal, and technically-illegal market has emerged. De Soto explores this phenomenon -- and similar cases throughout Latin America -- in his new book, The Other Path.

Journalist Isadore Barmash joins Fresh Air to explain the process of leveraged buyouts and hostile takeovers of corporations, and how these affect employees, customers, and shareholders. His new book, Macy's for Sale, offers a case study.