Don E. Kash

Don Kash was a professor at OU 1970-90. He was Director of the Science and Public Policy Program 1970-78. He was named George Lynn Cross Research Professor. He went on to be John T. Hazel, Sr. and Ruth D. Hazel Chair of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia until 2004.

THE COMPLEXITY CHALLENGE
Technological Innovation for the 21st Century
(Science, Technology, and the International Political Economy Series)
Robert W. Rycroft, Don E. Kash 
Cassell Academic (1999)

"Essential reading for all those interested in the new forms of competition and business organization." Christopher Freeman, University of Sussex

PERPETUAL INNOVATION
The New World of Competition
Don E. Kash
Basic Books (1989) (out of print)

"The past decade has witnessed the precipitous decline of the United States as an internatinal competitor in the world of commercial innovation. While we have been—and still are—a leader in innovation for defense, medicine, and agriculture, we have lost our competitive edge in developing the high-tech consumer products that now determine much of the economic fortune of nations. 

In this clear and tough-minded look at our dilemma, Don Kash proposes that the United States apply the lessons of the arms race to win the export race. He argues that three of our most cherished ideas about economic activity— individualism, the free market, and efficiency—have become counterproductive in the new reality of continuous innovation. Groups—-not individuals—are the source of success in synthesizing new products. Cooperation between the public and private sectors—not the free market—is critical to competition in the international marketplace. And innovation—being first, or early, with a new product—is more important than efficiency. Perpetual Innovation offers fresh ideas for meeting the challenge of a new economic reality." (from book jacket)

"The current debate over the decline in U. S. competitiveness in international markets seems mostly to be the equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It has been singularly lacking in new ideas. This provocative and controversial book is a welcome exception, suggesting that Americans are going to have to discard some of their myths of unfettered markets and heroic entrepreneurs. Instead, we will have to adapt many of the essential features of the military-industrial complex, which the United States itself pioneered as a new model for 'perpetual innovation' but which we failed to apply outside the restricted domains of defense, medicine, and agriculture, while our rivals adapted it for the enhancement of their export performance. Don Kash's ideas ae almost certain to reorient the current national debate about the future of the U. S. economy." Harvey Brooks, Professor Emeritus of Technology and Public Policy and of Applied Physics, Harvard University.

"Our successes in defense, medicine, and agriculture have not rested upon Einsteins, Henry Fords, Iacoccas, or Edward Tellers. Quite to the contrary, they have relied on what Galbraith referred to as 'ordinary men' organized in an environment that allowed them to think new thoughts and to experiment. Continuous innovation results from organizational arrangements that make thinking new thoughts and experimenting routine, everyday tasks. The distinctive indivual is not critical. Indeed, the Lone Ranger is a threat to success." (from the book)

U.S. ENERGY POLICY
Crisis and Complacency
Don E. Kash, Robert W. Rycroft
University of Oklahoma Press (1984)

"The author attempts to "analyze America's struggle to develop a new energy policy following the 1973 Arab oil embargo." (Choice) 

"Kash and Rycroft stress the need for a stable energy policy that will be acceptable to both energy producers and environmentalists. They also advocate a program that would unite government and private industry in an effort to develop new sources of energy. Kash and Rycroft's emphasis on the political aspects of energy policy is reminiscent of David Davis's Energy Politics {BRD 1976}. Kash and Rycroft's treatment of the subject, however, is both more extensive and more sophisticated. Their chapter on physical resources policy-making is particularly useful. The book also contains a number of interesting tables and illustrations. (Neil B. Weissman–Choice) 

This is an important analysis of American policy toward major fuels....Clearly written, the book covers a vast array of information in a sophisticated yet straightforward manner....This book would be a highly useful supplement for college energy policy courses. It would also be useful in any college library or on a professional reference shelf. While their approach is not novel, the authors do present a sound and thoughtful defense of the government-intervention approach that characterized the Carter administration. (James E. Katz–Science Books & Films) 

ENERGY POLICY-MAKING
A Selected Bibliography
Don E. Kash
University of Oklahoma Press (1977)

OUR ENERGY FUTURE
The Role of Research, Development, and Demonstration
in Reaching a National Consensus on Energy Supply
Don E. Kash, et al
University of Oklahoma Press (1976)

ENERGY ALTERNATIVES
A Comparative Analysis
Don E. Kash, et al
Government Printing Office (1975)

NORTH SEA OIL AND GAS
Implications for Future U.S. Development
Don E. Kash, et al
University of Oklahoma Press (1973)

ENERGY UNDER THE OCEANS
A Technology Assessment
Don E. Kash
University of Oklahoma Press (1973) 

THE POLITICS OF SPACE COOPERATION
Kash, Don E.
Purdue University Press (1967)