Paul Pierson

Paul Pierson holds the Avice Saint Chair of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. The contemporary American political landscape has been marked by two paradoxical transformations: the emergence after 1960 of an increasingly activist state, and the rise of an assertive and politically powerful conservatism that strongly opposes activist...

The very rich have gotten a lot richer these past few decades--even during the current economic crisis--while most Americans haven't. How have they managed to restructure the economy to reap the lion's share, tearing new holes in the safety net and saddling all of us with increased debt and risk? In an innovative historical departure, Hacker and Pierson trace the rise of the winner-take-all economy back to a major transformation of American politics...

"A spirited examination of why what's good for American business elites and what's good for Americans have become misaligned"--Front jacket flap. In the past, government and business were as much partners as rivals, resulting in broad-based growth and healthy social development. But advocates of anti-government market fundamentalism are intent on scrapping the instrument of nearly a century of unprecedented economic and social progress. Hacker and...