John Van Reenen: Why America needs a ‘Grand Innovation Challenge Fund’

What this episode covers

Why has productivity growth slowed down in the past five decades, and how big of a problem is this? How important is public support for R&D to solving this problem? And how should this R&D be dispersed by policymakers? My guest today, John Van Reenen, answers these questions and more while discussing his proposal for the US to create what he calls a “Grand Innovation Challenge Fund.” John is the Gordon Y Billard Professor in Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Economics and a Professor of Applied Economics at MIT’s Department of Economics. He is the author of the recent Hamilton Project policy proposal: “ Innovation Policies to Boost Productivity .” You can also check out the transcript of this podcast here .

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