Ross Eisenbrey — Government–Not Business–Has Been the Source of Breakthrough Innovation

Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of economics at the University of Sussex, has been making the point very effectively in lectures and a new book, The Entrepreneurial State, that the real innovation engine in the global economy is not business, nor the market, but the government. A recent story about Mazzucato in Forbes cites her view that long-term, patient capital–provided by government–is the absolute prerequisite for breakthrough innovation.

Who knew? What do firms that utilize this public contribution pay for it? Nothing other than taxes on the profits from breakthrough innovation. And they are continually objecting to high taxation inhibiting innovation. Another neoliberal myth goes down in flames.

EPI
Government–Not Business–Has Been the Source of Breakthrough Innovation
Ross Eisenbrey
(h/t Mark Thoma at Economist's View)