Industrial Policy Meets the Real Economy

Kate Gordon and Priyanka Mohanty are joined by two scholars who've spent their careers deep in industrial policy: Dr. Nikki Luke (University of Tennessee geographer, former DOE energy workforce advisor, author of Electric Life) and Dr. J. Mijin Cha (UC Santa Cruz environmental studies, Cornell Climate Jobs Institute fellow, author of A Just Transition for All).The conversation traces how the U.S. got from the New Deal to today's “industrial policy moment” — and what actually happened when the infrastructure bill,  the inflation reduction act, and the CHIPS and Science Act tried to turn theory into practice. Along the way: why the American South has its own coherent (if very different) industrial policy; the gap between prevailing-wage requirements and durable job quality; the case for a publicly led transition versus a privately led one; and why we need to center workers when we think about job creation.The episode opens with a tribute to Dr. Sarah E. Knuth, a Berkeley-trained geographer and leading energy scholar whose research on federal tax policy and renewable energy adoption shaped much of the field, and who passed away in July 2026. A remembrance from the UC Berkeley Department of Geography is linked below.Links & ResourcesIn Memory of Dr. Sarah E. Knuth, UC Berkeley Department of Geography — https://geography.berkeley.edu/news/memory-dr-sarah-e-knuthNikki Luke, Electric Life: Regulation and Industrial Environments — AmazonJ. Mijin Cha, A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future — Amazon“Paying Fairer Dues in the South,” New York Times, 1977 — Read the archive pieceJuhász, Lane & Rodrik, definition of industrial policy, Annual Review of Economics — Read the paperU.S. Energy and Employment Report 2025 (DOE) — Read the reportKate Gordon, “From Green Jobs to Bidenomics: The Arc of Green Industrial Policy,” Carnegie Endowment — Read the articleChart: rise of unions / drop in income inequality — View search resultsHashtags#CaliforniaDreamshot #IndustrialPolicy #JustTransition #CleanEnergy #ClimateJobs #EnergyTransition #CaliforniaForward #CAFWD #CAPolicy #GreenJobs