Fred Block Setting the Habit of Capitalization Download audio podcast Over the last thirty years, there has been a dramatic change in the organization of innovation in the US economy. The shift has been from innovation occurring inside large firms to widespread use of public-private collaborations. This shift has accelerated in important ways during the Obama presidency. But this transformation is deeply at odds with the free market ideas and tax-cutting policies that have had such powerful resonance in US politics. How might these tensions be resolved? Fred Block is Research Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Davis. He is co-author with Margaret R. Somers of The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique. He has also edited, with Matthew R. Keller, State of Innovation: The US Government’s Role in Technology Development. His current project is a book entitled Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion. Selected publications |