The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power

Description

This volume brings together leading political scientists to explore the distinctive features of the American political economy. The introductory chapter provides a comparatively informed framework for analyzing the interplay of markets and politics in the United States, focusing on three key factors: uniquely fragmented and decentralized political institutions; an interest group landscape characterized by weak labor organizations and powerful, parochial business groups; and an entrenched legacy of ethno-racial divisions embedded in both government and markets. Subsequent chapters look at the fundamental dynamics that result, including the place of the courts in multi-venue politics, the political economy of labor, sectional conflict within and across cities and regions, the consolidation of financial markets and corporate monopoly and monopsony power, and the ongoing rise of the knowledge economy. Together, the chapters provide a revealing new map of the politics of democratic capitalism in the United States.

Jacob S. Hacker is Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He is the author or co-author of six books, including, most recently, Let Them Eat Tweets and American Amnesia (with Paul Pierson) (2020). Alexander Hertel-Fernandez is Associate Professor at Columbia University. He studies the politics of US public policy with a focus on labor, business, and the workplace. He is the author of Politics at Work (2018), which won the 2019 Robert A. Dahl and Gladys Kammerer Awards from the American Political Science Association, and State Capture. Paul Pierson is John Gross Professor of Political Science at University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or co-author of six books on American and comparative politics, including Let Them Eat Tweets and American Amnesia (with Hacker) (2020). Kathleen Thelen is Ford Professor of Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research examines the origins and impact of political-economic institutions in the rich democracies. Her books include Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (Cambridge, 2014) and How Institutions Evolve (Cambridge, 2008), which won the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association.

'Until recently, specialists in American politics have left debates about globalization, the rise of economic inequality, and the transformation of labor markets to economists and scholars of comparative politics. In this impressive volume, an accomplished group of scholars demonstrates the value of integrating the study of American politics with an interdisciplinary political economy approach that embraces sober and systematic explorations of the most urgent questions of our time.' Jonathan Rodden, Stanford University 'The American Political Economy is an agenda-setting collection, a must-read of theoretically bold and empirically wide-ranging contributions to our understanding of galloping inequalities and democratic erosions in the contemporary United States. Business power, union decline, racial inequities, government weakness, and regional disparities - all get provocative fresh looks here. Scholars and students alike will find much to debate and new questions to investigate.' Theda Skocpol, Harvard University 'Injecting the study of American politics with a badly needed dual dose of economic realism and comparative insight, The American Political Economy reminds us of the inescapable and mutual embedding of a fragmented state in a heterogeneous economy and a racially divided populace. A transformative collection whose paradigmatic lessons will keep on giving, for decades.' Dan Carpenter, Harvard University 'This is the rare edited volume that features real intellectual heft. It not only bids fair to reorient the study of American political life but it also promises to shape the scholarly sensibilities of generations to come. Drawing on contributions from a dazzling roster of luminaries and rising stars, it makes a compelling case that political economy should occupy a central place in our understanding of American politics.' Anthony S. Chen, Northwestern University