The state as “Market maker”
For a point of view we don’t see much lately:
Mariana Mazzucato, a Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, discusses the role of government in innovation and economic growth. In her latest book The Entrepreneurial State she argues that active state investment has been the secret behind most radical innovations, and that this requires economists to analyse the state as market ‘maker’ and market ‘shaper’ not just market ‘fixer’. You can view the video here.
Anyone who doesn’t recognize that the state has been the big market maker and shaper has never ridden on a paved road, used a computer, turned on a light bulb, replaced a broken part or eaten a saltine cracker. Those all started as government initiatives. The physics blogger Bea (at Backreaction) compared people against basic research as the kind of people who think tap water comes from inside one’s walls. I think our societal disconnection from our means of development and production hasn’t help us think about where we are, how we got here or where we can go.