Jason Jackson

My book “Traders, Speculators and Captains of Industry: How Capitalist Legitimacy Shaped Foreign Investment Policy in India” published by @Harvard_Press is out! hup.harvard.edu/books/97806742…

Week in review: Seven of our favorite labor scholars on a pro-labor vision of the Constitution, @jeenashahesq on Trump’s contradictory treatment of Hernández and Maduro, & @NMaggor on how “good” and “bad” capitalists are not born but made. Plus, new CFPs, talks, and rankings!

Today, Aditya Balasubramanian continues our symposium on @JasonBJackson's *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry.* Given that Indian firms spend virtually nothing on R&D, he asks, how we should understand the modernity of so-called “modern Indian capitalists”?

Today, @veenadubal and @AzizaAhmed discuss the feminist lawyers and activists who transformed the law and science of AIDS, the CDC’s willful ignorance around the disease’s reach, and the adverse public health consequences of carceral feminism.

Appreciate Amy Cohen’s response to my book, esp the link w/Melinda Cooper’s “patrimonial capitalism” + moralized distinction btwn firms that are privately held or founder-controlled thru complex legal structures (eg tech) & the publicly traded corporation of managerial capitalism

Watch the latest @SouthAsiaBrown Book Adda with @JasonBJackson on Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry, exploring how Indian and foreign business leaders shaped foreign investment policy through questions of capitalist legitimacy. (VIDEO) youtube.com/watch?v=OtNR1K…

Sven Beckert argues that market and state expansion have run parallel for 500 years. For him, the idea that they are opposing forces is historically inaccurate; the state is a co-producer of capitalism. Full episode of the EPH Podcast with Sven: youtu.be/wn-7JQBwTDg

Today, Amy Cohen continues our symposium on @JasonBJackson's *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry,* considering what his framework might tell us about the recent return of patrimonial capitalism in the United States.

@veenadubal Thank you so much @veenadubal! Especially grateful for the kind words as I continue to learn so much from your work on labor, law, and tech esp in the urban mobility and ridehailing platform space. 🙏🙏

How do nations outside the US decide to regulate US tech & investment? @JasonBJackson new book helped me to understand how policymakers in India find certain titans “legitimate.” Incredible work. lpeproject.org/blog/moral-ord…

So honored to have an @LPEblog symposium on my new @Harvard_Press 📕“Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry”! Am deeply grateful to @LPE_Project colleagues for the opportunity, and to my respondents @NMaggor, Aditya Balasubramanian & Amy Cohen for engaging w/my work. 🙏

Today, @JasonBJackson kicks off a symposium on his new book, *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry: How Capitalist Legitimacy Shaped Foreign Investment Policy in India.* Economic policymaking, he argues, is best seen as a state-led project of moral ordering of capital.

New working paper with Rainer Kattel: Market-Shaping States. Governments face a paradox—they need stability to sustain direction over time, yet agility to adapt when conditions change. These aren't opposing forces. They're complementary capabilities that must work together. We present a framework showing how structural capacities, organisational routines and dynamic capabilities interact to create public value. Strong strategy without learning leads to rigidity. Strong delivery without direction leads to fragmentation. Read the paper ➡️ ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/publi…

**CALL FOR PAPERS** LSE–NYU Conference 2026 Making States Work: Capacity, Accountability and Economic Foundations 🗓 Deadline: 6 March More details and how to submit your paper 🔽 sticerd.lse.ac.uk/_new/events/ev… #PoliticalEconomy

@JavierMejiaC @Harvard_Press Thanks so much @JavierMejiaC! I really enjoyed our conversation and appreciate the invitation to join your phenomenal EPH Podcast!

Why did India welcome some capital—and rejected other forms? 🎙️ New episode of the EPH Podcast with @JasonBJackson A conversation on: • “Good” vs “bad” capital • Coca-Cola, nationalism & legitimacy • Why capitalism is a moral system ▶️ YouTube: youtu.be/OEL_Is_8ITw?si…

Deadline for paper/panel submission for the 1st ever @isanet conference in South Asia has been extended (March 2)! And we are working on resolving the technical problems with submission asap. More on the conference 👇

Finally started reading this: so brilliantly written, clear and lucid, and accessible to folks like me who aren’t familiar with the grammar/vocabulary of these debates.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s @Watson_School event on my new @Harvard_Press book “Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry,” esp discussion w/ @MkBlyth, @itihaasnaama, & @PatrickHeller1 ! events.brown.edu/ccsa/event/325…

Thank you, Ralph Nader, for this conversation on Capitalism: A Global History. The History of Capitalism open.substack.com/pub/ralphnader…

New Rhodes Center Podcast is up. Sven Beckert talks his new book - Capitalism: A Global History - with Seth Rockman: player.captivate.fm/episode/76bb17…