Collaboration between the public and private sectors helped the U.S. economy recover from its last period of economic malaise, and similar collaboration is needed today, according to a key participant in the 1980s–1990s competitiveness movement.In Building the Next American Century, Kent H. Hughes describes that movement, beginning with the conditions that stimulated it: stagflation in the early 1970s, declines in manufactured exports, and challenges from German and Japanese manufacturers. The United States responded with monetary and fiscal reform, technological innovation, and formation of a culture of lifelong learning. Although a great deal of leadership came from government, a new sense of partnership with the private sector and its leaders was crucial. Hughes attributes much of the national prosperity of the late 1990s to contributions from the private sectors. Hughes argues that a twenty-first-century competitiveness strategy with a system-wide approach to innovation, learning, and global engagement can meet today's challenges, even in the demanding environment shaped by national security concerns after 9/11.---Kent H. Hughes has served as President of the Council on Competitiveness, Associate Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Senior Economist of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Chief Economist to Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd, and in a number of other important positions. He is currently director of the Project on Science, Technology, America, and the Global Economy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.Building the Next American Century: The Past and Future of Economic Competitiveness(Woodrow Wilson Press, 2005)Price: $55.00 hardcover;$24.95 paperISBN 0-8018-8204-4 hardcover; 0-8018-8203-6 paperDistributed by: Johns Hopkins University PressTelephone: 1-800-537-5467 To order this book please visit: http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title_pages/8814.html more