Entrepreneurial State: Not an Oxymoron
The Entrepreneurial State. That’s the seemingly contradictory title of Mariana Mazzucato’s book . Yes, it’s about the government as an entrepreneur! The opposite of the bureaucratic, bumbling institution that we think of it is as… A clarification first. Here’s what she is and is not saying: “The important thing for Government is not to do things which individuals are doing already, and to them a little better or a little worse, but to do those things which at present are not done at all.” Rather, she is talking of the State creating new technologies from scratch, by making high risk investments as well as using other tools at its disposal: “Whether the State is making an investment in the Internet or clean energy… it can do so on a scale and with tools not available to businesses (i.e., taxation, regulation).” Why can’t/won’t the private sector do that instead? Because: “Real innovation can take decades.” And the private sector is way too impatient, wa...