Robert B. Reich: The Work Of Nations

Abstract

Robert Reich is one of those rare renaissance individuals whose formal education and mind ranges over disparate disciplines. He holds a degree in law from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. A policy advisor in both the Ford and Carter administrations, he is currently professor of public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In addition, he is contributing editor of The New Republic, Chairman of the editorial board of American Prospect, a frequent contributor to Atlantic and the Harvard Business Review, and a regular commentator for both radio and television. During the decades of the seventies and eighties, Professor Reich displayed a remarkable ability not only to sense the contours of the future in economic and social life, but also to convert that understanding into a series of policy choices and options. In the early eighties, in his book The Next American Frontier, Professor Reich cogently outlined the new world of international competitiveness and highlighted the dramatic changes which were affecting the structure and processes of economies. He was one of the first scholars to chart the shift from a national resource-based to an information-based economy. Professor Reich is noted for his calls for an end to what he terms “paper entrepreneurialism” and the need to develop a future-focused industrial strategy. Depending on one's vantage point, Professor Reich is either famous or infamous for his views.