The Entrepreneurial State

July 22, 2016 7:22 AM

Mariana Mazzucato is Rethinking Capitalism (pdf; via)

Lunch with the FT: Mariana Mazzucato - "The first time I saw Mariana Mazzucato in action was when she intellectually eviscerated a guileless American venture capitalist..."[1,2,3; pdf]

also btw...
-Managerialism vs innovation
-NIB: good economics, bad politics
-A much-maligned engine of innovation
-Putting the 'New Deal' into climate R&D
-Mission Finance: starting to think big again
-Why innovation needs the help of an active state
-Serious innovation requires serious state support
-Mariana Mazzucato at FT Camp Alphaville Robot Panel

posted by kliuless (16 comments total)

Oh boy, lots of exciting stuff to read. I wish I weren't at work.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:56 AM on July 22, 2016

Huh. Just cracked open her book yesterday - I bought it a while back but got sidetracked. Pretty impressive thus far.
posted by AdamCSnider at 8:08 AM on July 22, 2016

I will buy the Entrepreneurial State. Thank you for introducing me to her, I had never across her work till now. At least by name. I think her work is probably what underlies the UK Design Council's efforts, however, especially the ROI of design industries.
posted by infini at 9:00 AM on July 22, 2016

WOW great post as usual kliuless cant wait to dive in Can someone explain the solution she's offering in 140 characters please ;_;
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:27 AM on July 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

Kliuless, you seriously need to publish some sort of serial bibliography. Wrap line from the "Serious innovation requires serious state support" link above;

A coherent economic model of growth must distinguish between symbiotic and parasitic relationships between the state and the private sector. This is not about the state sparing the private sector from risk, but taking risks together and enjoying the rewards as one.

Preach, lady.
posted by eclectist at 9:41 AM on July 22, 2016 [5 favorites]

Been meaning to get hold of one of her articles for the last month but left for holiday without finding it. Just arrived at a remote lakeside for three days of relaxing and reading so this is brilliant timing for me. Good work kluiless.
posted by biffa at 10:01 AM on July 22, 2016

My thanks for the post. The Entrepreneurial State is a good read, very accessible, and as stated in the articles, it tells a very important part of the innovation/business story. Her goal is to put to bed the old trope about how government by its very nature stymies innovation and business. Instead, she builds a convincing argument of how government can often play a critical and positive role in innovation and capitalism; thus we should support public-funded R+D policies. This is not a new argument, but she does it justice as far as I can tell (as a layperson), using contemporary examples familiar to readers like DARPA and Apple. My only question after reading the book, was why she apparently was the only person presenting this argument to a mainstream audience. If anyone knows of similar attempts, academic or not, I would be interested.
posted by buffalo at 2:35 PM on July 22, 2016

Been wondering what's the best non-Marxist view of a non-DOOM future. Will definitely read (skeptically).
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:54 PM on July 22, 2016

If anyone knows of similar attempts, academic or not, I would be interested.

Finland. Nokia. Tekes. Aalto University.

In the UK itself (if not already mentioned in the book) - Nesta, the Design Council, UK Policy Lab

Singapore of course, and then HK, Taiwan, S/Korea all have/had their design/innovation policies

Everybody else's national design policies.

Only the US held off for years as it was believed that between Apple and the invisible hand, who needed a national policy to drive innovation.
posted by infini at 7:16 PM on July 22, 2016

Linda Weiss considers funding of the US military as a driver for innovation in America Inc. Her older work ' The myth of the powerless state' has a relevant discussion of approaches to innovating new industry in different countries from a 'varieties of capitalism' perspective that will still be at partially relevant. I would recommend some more but am away from the office and my laptop.
posted by biffa at 1:38 AM on July 23, 2016

The EU's Horizon2020 is another example of the mega state driving innovation research
posted by infini at 1:54 AM on July 23, 2016

Carlota Perez:* "A missing piece of Perez's work, that often goes underemphasized by the private investment community, is the role of government in creating an equitable framework that allows everyone to participate in benefits of technological change. This is not an argument in favor of big government for big government's sake; it's to point out that when technology changes the complexity or structure of society, citizens have to push public institutions to transform themselves too. 'Golden ages are not brought by markets alone', Perez told me. 'Historically, they have never done it.' "

perez contributes the last chapter to mazzucato & jacobs' anthology...

viz. Financial bubbles, crises and the role of government in unleashing golden ages - "This understanding would move policy thinking away from trying to regulate against further bubbles and, instead, towards actively shaping market conditions to enable the full flourishing of the newly installed technological potential into what can be a sustainable global golden age. Such an objective would also guide the necessary changes in taxation and the financial system in order to make real economy investment more profitable than casino finance."

cf. Why IT and the green economy are the real answer to the financial crisis - "The policies that could make green growth the most profitable pathway for producers will probably have to be a complex mixture of carrots, sticks and education. They will indeed require bold leadership and massive imagination, as was shown by Keynes, Roosevelt and the leaders that established the Breton Woods agreements. Focusing on saving finance will get us nowhere unless it occurs as a result of reviving and reorienting the economy."

speaking of which...
-Finding Better Ideas to Rebuild America
-Concrete Economics: The Hamilton Approach to Economic Growth and Policy

also btw, there's also bill janeway's
Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Markets, Speculation and the State

viz. "Janeway also asserts that government plays three necessary roles in the development of an innovative economy. Government promotes the basic research that fuels innovation and nurtures the talent and skills to develop it: think of the Pentagon's role in the evolution of information technology or the National Institutes of Health's contributions to contemporary medicine. It also helps stabilize the economy when private demand fails to fully employ a country's resources. Finally, government limits the damage to the economy caused by unavoidable episodic financial bubbles."

cf. "Janeway is the son of Eliot Janeway, an economic commentator and adviser to Roosevelt and Johnson, and the novelist Elizabeth Janeway; his liberal political tendencies thus come naturally, supplemented by a long study of Keynesian economics, including close contact with one of Keynes' greatest disciples, Hyman Minsky. In fact, he has long pursued two careers, which effectively inform each other: as an economist at Cambridge University (home of Keynes) delving into the financial breakdown of 1929-31; and as a Wall Street practitioner who learned at the well-shod feet of Ferdinand Eberstadt, venture capitalist Fred Adler, and John Vogelstein, one of the founders of Warburg Pincus, Janeway's longtime firm."
posted by kliuless at 2:56 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

kliuless: huge thanks. janeway is indeed a good example. i didn't know about perez, and with this wonderful abundance of links i will busy for a while. cheers!
posted by buffalo at 8:52 PM on July 23, 2016

Why Countries Never Thrive Without Activist Government Investment - "History shows that economies have never grown through minimizing government involvement in the economy."

Hillary Clinton and the Scandinavian-American Dream - "These economies' capacity to provide work is not undermined by their strong social safety nets. On the contrary, precisely because temporary unemployment is not a disaster for those affected by it, the labor market is more flexible and predictable. This makes it easier for employers to hire and fire, and easier for employees to seek out the best job for the best pay."

viz. Untamed: How to Check Corporate, Financial, and Monopoly Power
cf. Rewrite the Racial Rules: Building an Inclusive American Economy

also btw paul romer is the world bank's new chief economist fwiw...
-Nonrival Goods After 25 Years
-Human Capital and Knowledge
-Clear Writing Produces Clearer Thoughts
-Economic Growth

speaking of which, noah smith has some opinions:

• Personally I think the U.S. should have a charter city entirely run by Japan. It would teach us to appreciate trains and dense development.
• Can we create industrial clusters intentionally? Maybe so. It's time for lots of cities to try.
• I'm guessing a lot (most?) of the "productivity" increase in big cities is just implied rent.
• I think minimum wages should be set at the city/county level, since that's where agglomeration effects happen.

oh and...
-What a City Is For
-Y Combinator plans to start a program of research on the building of new cities
-Google's Parent Company Alphabet Wants to Build a New City From the Ground Up
posted by kliuless at 12:12 AM on July 29, 2016

Uber hired CIA-linked research firm to investigate Seattle union politics
posted by jeffburdges at 4:13 AM on July 30, 2016

IMF admits disastrous love affair with the euro and apologises for the immolation of Greece
posted by jeffburdges at 9:36 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]