Uma análise séria e reveladora que mostra que o Estado foi crucial nas revoluções tecnológicas mais recentes do mundo. Uma invenção com impacto enorme na vida de milhões de pessoas, o iPhone costuma ser visto como fruto da mente genial de Steve Jobs e da empresa que ele ajudou a se tornar uma marca mundial bilionária, a Apple. Muitas das tecnologias mais marcantes do aparelho, porém, são resultado de pesquisas financiadas pelo Estado americano, como a tela touchscreen e o assistente virtual acionado por voz, Siri. Essa é uma das revelações feitas por Mariana Mazzucato em O Estado empreendedor, e ilustra bem o principal tema discutido por ela no livro: apesar de ser percebido como lento, burocrático e pouco ousado, o Estado teve e continua tendo papel fundamental e estratégico no desenvolvimento de grandes avanços tecnológicos. Valendo-se sempre de dados fartos e análises bem-fundamentadas, a autora examina outros casos semelhantes em áreas que vão da internet à nanotecnologia e, através de um olhar fresco e muitas vezes surpreendente, enriquece um debate atualíssimo.Pages : 395Bookfusion : No

The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths

Mariana Mazzucato,, Sanjulián, Javier / Solé del Barrio

Mariana Mazzucato; Carlota Prez

Wimbledon Publishing Co

Union Bridge Books

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Jun 10, 2013

FR, 2013

Source title: The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths

This book debunks the myth of the State as a large bureaucratic organization that can at best facilitate the creative innovation which happens in the dynamic private sector. Analysing various case studies of innovation-led growth, it describes the opposite situation, whereby the private sector only becomes bold enough to invest after the courageous State has made the high-risk investments.
The volume argues that in the history of modern capitalism, the State has generated economic activity that would not otherwise have happened, and has actively opened up new technologies and markets that private investors can later move into. Far from the often heard criticisms of the State potentially 'crowding out' private investments, the State makes them happen, shaping and creating markets, not only 'fixing' them. Ignoring this reality only serves ideological ends, and hurts effective policymaking.
This book examines case studies ranging from the advent of the Internet to the emergence of the biotechnology and nanotechnology industries. In particular, the volume debunks the myth that Silicon Valley was created by entrepreneurial venture capital. A key chapter focuses on the State investments behind Apple's success, and reveals that every major technology behind the iPhone owes its source to public funds. Thus, while entrepreneurial individuals like Steve Jobs are needed, their success is nearly impossible without their ability to ride the wave of State investments. And if Europe wants its own Googles, it needs more State action, not less.
Two forward-looking chapters focus on the emergence of the next big thing after the internet: the 'green revolution'. Both solar and wind technology are currently being led by State spending, whether through the US ARPA-E programme or the Chinese and Brazilian State investment banks. The discussion refreshingly moves beyond the usual division between proponents of austerity vs. the proponents of fiscal stimulus. It argues that State investments not only help kick-start growth during periods of recession, but that they also, even in boom periods, lead to productive investments in radical new technologies which later foster decades of growth.
The book ends with a fundamental question: if the State is so important to investments in high-risk innovation, why does it capture so little direct return?

The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths stirred up much-needed debate about the role of the state in fostering long-run innovation led economic growth.
According to conventional wisdom, innovation is best left to the dynamic entrepreneurs of the private sector, and government should get out of the way. But what if all this was wrong? What if, from Silicon Valley to medical breakthroughs, the public sector has been the boldest and most valuable risk-taker of all?
The book comprehensively debunks the myth of a lumbering, bureaucratic state versus a dynamic, innovative private sector. In a series of case studies—from IT, biotech, nanotech to today’s emerging green tech—Professor Mazzucato shows that the opposite is true: the private sector only finds the courage to invest after an entrepreneurial state has made the high-risk investments. In an intensely researched chapter, she reveals that every technology that makes the iPhone so ‘smart’ was government funded: the Internet, GPS, its touch-screen display and the voice-activated Siri.
Mazzucato also controversially argues that in the history of modern capitalism the State has not only fixed market failures, but has also actively shaped and created markets. In doing so, it sometimes wins and sometimes fails. Yet by not admitting the State’s role in such active risk taking, and pretending that the state only cheers on the side-lines while the private sector roars, we have ended up creating an ‘innovation system’ whereby the public sector socializes risks, while rewards are privatized. The book considers how to change this dysfunctional dynamic so that economic growth can be not only ‘smart’ but also ‘inclusive’.

2024-03-26