A review by catincaciornei
The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato

4.0

Mrs. Mazzucato's "The Entrepreneurial State" added materially to my understanding of how the world works - few reads can boast such result. The State gets hammered in PR and marketing, nevertheless it was and must continue to be the main supporter of innovation in any economy. The State is the only agent powerful (rich & stable) enough and motivated enough (long term) to support decades of expensive, risky research and development needed to find, test and market new technologies; the private sector touts its flag, pushes its own agenda and brags about its dynamism and efficiency, but it is in fact a risk-adverse short-term profit-oriented actor. Mrs. Mazzucato writes a sometimes dry economic paper, fact based, academically researched and advocated, giving examples of successful private companies piggyback riding on the State's prior silent decades of investment, research, failures and networking. Interesting, fact-full, eye opening read. Looking forward to Mrs. Mazzucato's other books.