TY - CHAP AB - Abstract In this chapter, we argue for an essential dualism in the U.S. economy; there are simultaneously institutional sources of dynamism and institutional patterns that portend a process of decay and decline. This dualism corresponds to a growing divide between innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises and big corporations – both financial and nonfinancial – that are increasingly predatory in their business strategies. Surprisingly, firms on both sides of the divide are increasingly dependent on government. The small- and medium-sized firms rely heavily on government science and technology programs to help them innovate. The large firms need government to protect their position. Whether dynamism or decay will prove to be stronger, we think, is contingent on political choices that will be made over the next ten years. This contingency, in turn, makes it easier to understand the highly polarized nature of partisan politics in the United States today. VL - 26 SN - 978-1-78350-829-7, 978-1-78350-830-3/0198-8719 DO - 10.1108/S0198-8719(2014)0000026002 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0198-8719(2014)0000026002 AU - Block Fred AU - Keller Matthew R. PY - 2014 Y1 - 2014/01/01 TI - Can the U.S. sustain its global position? Dynamism and stagnation in the U.S. institutional model T2 - The United States in Decline T3 - Political Power and Social Theory PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 19 EP - 51 Y2 - 2024/03/29 ER -