Risks and Rewards from Rotten Apples to Symbiotic Ecosystems

 The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato argues that the overall success of the United States economy is due to public, and government-funded investments in technology and innovation. Chapter 8 of the book is called Risks and Rewards from Rotten Apples to Symbiotic Ecosystems and speaks about the relationship that the state has with risky investments in technology and innovation as well as the state’s initial investments and ties in/with Apple. Mazzucato states that “risk-taking has been a collective endeavour while the returns have been much less collectively distributed” meaning is that the only return that the state sees for their risky investment is the indirect benefits in the form of higher tax receipts which ironically enough are a result of their initial investment. The point that Mazzucato is trying to get at is that to the average person there seems to be lots of talk of an equal partnership between the private sector and the government and there is to some extent as the efforts are collective whereas the returns on those investments remain to stay in the private sector. Thus, proposes to make growth fairer and more inclusive, ultimately for the gains of these investments to be more equitably shared. Mazzucato believes that innovation is cumulative meaning that the innovation that is present in today’s society builds on innovation from yesterday. 

Questions: Do you believe that innovation is built on innovation from yesterday? And if you do believe so, is it possible that the state will eventually run out of funding and could possibly affect the innovation of tomorrow? 

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