The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has generated a fundamental re-evaluation of the free-market policies that have dominated American politics for three decades. State of Innovation brings together critical essays looking at the 'innovation industry' in the context of the current crisis. The book shows how government programs and policies have underpinned technological innovation in the US economy over the last four decades, despite the strength of 'free market' political rhetoric. The contributors provide new insights into where innovations come from and how governments can support a dynamic innovation economy as the US recovers from a profound economic crisis. State of Innovation outlines a 21st century policy paradigm that will foster cutting-edge innovation which remains accountable to the public.

Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, American politics has been dominated by the idea that free markets are the most effective way to organize economic activity. Private firms, disciplined by the competitive rigors of the market, are forced to innovate, adapt, and become more efficient in order to outpace rivals, continuously satisfy consumers, and meet new demands. Government, in this view, is the problem: regulation, taxation, and policy interventions disrupt open competition, stifle innovation, and breed inefficiency.But the dirty secret behind the facade of the Washington consensus is that over the last four decades, government programs and policies have quietly become ever more central to the American economy. From basic research to commercialization, the fingerprints of government can be found in virtually every major industrial success story of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century and are central to American innovation and recovery.This volume provides the first comprehensive account of the depth, magnitude, and structure of the U.S. government s role in the innovation economy. A cross-disciplinary group of authors collectively document, theorize, and evaluate the decentralized set of agencies, programs, and policies at the core of the collaborative linkages between public agencies and the private industries at the forefront of the U.S. economy. Equally important, as the United States seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, this volume addresses issues critical to the construction of newly responsible, forward-looking public policies: how can we forge an innovation policy that is at once flexible, effective and efficient, as well as transparent and accountable?"

Virtually everyone-left, right, and center-believes that capitalist economies are autonomous, coherent, and regulated by their own internal laws. This view is an illusion. The reality is that economies organized around the pursuit of private profit are contradictory, incoherent, and heavily shaped by politics and governmental action. But the illusion remains hugely consequential because it has been embraced by political and economic elites who are convinced that they are powerless to change this system. The result is cycles of raised hopes followed by disappointment as elected officials discover they have no legitimate policy tools that can deliver what the public wants. In Capitalism, leading economic sociologist Fred L. Block argues that restoring the vitality of the United States and the world economy can be accomplished only with major reforms on the scale of the New Deal and the post-World War II building of new global institutions.

"Changing economic realities have outmoded much of traditional economic and social theory. Block has taken an inchoate concept and given it precision and force. His analyses of the new technologies are a major contribution to the revived field of 'economic sociology; ' but they also contribute to the ongoing debates on industrial policy and the expansion of democratic decision-making."--Daniel Bell, Harvard University

"Block's book marks the coming of age of economic sociology. By challenging the central concepts of neo-classical economics Block allows us to think in new ways about healthy economic growth in the context of a more democratic society. He provides a powerful and hopeful analysis of some of our most daunting problems."--Robert N. Bellah, co-author of "Habits of the Heart

"Block has undertaken the ambitious task of laying out the possibilities that lie within modern capitalism, but are obscured by the conventional perceptions of its economic structure and institutions. By closely examining these perceptions, ranging from labor and capital to that great tutelary deity, the market, Block enables us to see alternative arrangements for achieving qualitative economic growth. At a time when thinking about the future of advanced capitalism was ever more necessary or more difficult, "Postindustrial Possibilities seems to me exactly the clear, critical, and constuctive vision that social theory needs."--Robert L. Heilbroner, New School for Social Research

"From start to finish, this original and provocative book is impossible to put down. "Postindustrial Possibilities clarifies and makes sense of our contemporary 'great transformation.' In so doing, it not only maps socialreality incisively, it also provides a powerful critique of the tools in the kitbag of social science (the superb chapter on the market alone is worth the price of admission). At once normative, historical, and policy-oriented, the book suggests an alternative approach rooted in economic sociology that significantly broadens the scope of discussion about possible futures for the United States."--Ira Katznelson, New School for Social Research

"A brilliant book that illuminates both the quandaries and possibilities of postindustrial society. Writing in the tradition of Karl Polyani, Fred Block provides a refreshing antidote to the triumphalism of free market ideology that dominates our era, and also lays the intellectual groundwork for alternative and more humane forms of economic organization."--Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York