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Building the Next American Century: The Past and Future of American Economic Competitiveness (Woodrow Wilson Center Press)

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Hughes' American Model, July 3, 2005

Kent Hughes has an optimistic and realistic vision of the economic future of the United States. His optimism is rooted in confidence that future leadership will return to the bipartisan American model of the last two decades of the twentieth century. This American model for generating competitiveness was keyed to the adoption of advanced technology under a government/private partnership accompanied by fiscal and financial conservatism. Hughes' optimism may be realistic if future leadership and the country as a whole respond to current crises with the kind of shared risks and benefits approach that was evident in meeting the crises of WWII and the last two decades of the twentieth century.

Hughes provides chapter and verse in the development and success of the bipartisan American model of the Reagan/Bush/Clinton years. A Time Line appendix details the legislation and policies that underpinned the development of the American model. In 1980, Congressman Gilles Long, leading the Democratic Caucus, provided political support for a technology-based competitiveness policy. The Young Commission on Industrial Competition under President Reagan broadened and accentuated this policy. Alan Bromley, Science Advisor in the first Bush administration, was a key figure in continuing the competitiveness policy featuring emphasis on critical technologies. In the Clinton years, the bipartisan competitiveness policy was enhanced by deeper government/private-sector partnerships in technological development, by reduction of trade barriers, and by adoption of conservative fiscal and financial policies.

In the second Bush administration, new crises in security, fiscal, financial and energy policies have emerged. Hughes is optimistic that a return of a bipartisan American model stressing both efficiency and equity is possible and could be effective. Essential to reviving this American model is acceptance of a broad policy of shared risks and benefits. Those who live in the "City on the Hill" must share their benefits with the less powerful in order to spur competitiveness. Hughes finds improvement in efficiency and equity are both essential to the success of the American model. In this, Hughes taps into a strong theme in western philosophy - the Augustinian view that a universal and equitable society is necessary to assure progress.

John Hardt

Senior Scholar at National Council for Eurasian and Eastern European Research

Adjunct Professor of Economics, George Washington University

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