Read JumpStarting America How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream Audible Audio Edition Jonathan Gruber Simon Johnson Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 9 hours and 57 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Hachette Audio Audible.com Release Date April 9, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07PWHXRJR

JumpStarting America How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream Audible Audio Edition Jonathan Gruber Simon Johnson Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books Reviews

• Really enjoyed this book! The authors make a compelling case for renewed R&D investment in mid-sized cities all across the United States, and a system like Alaska's where all tax payers would be able to share in tech profits, not just the Mark Zuckerbergs of the word. I saw another review of the book that tried to force it onto the spectrum of our current polarized political nightmare...but this book has fans on both sides of the aisle. Don't fall into the trap. It's well researched and when America wins...we all win.
• This is a wonderful book, one that I suggest reading, that blends economics, history, and public policy into a practical action plan. Importantly, it is a plan that if generally followed would benefit large portions of the United States, creating economic benefits across many regions, industries, and groups of people.
  
  The proposal is to locate innovation-driven commercial centers in promising cities. The method is to reinvigorate the tradition of broadly-distributed Federal funding for research and development. Money put toward research and development produces new scientific knowledge and practical discoveries that would flow into an institutional arrangement involving the research center, private sector actors, and government entities, each playing a different role, but collectively working to create economic growth and to promote the common good.
  
  It is an appealing idea, since it would achieve several important things at once – creating growth and opportunity outside of the glamor-metros; providing a money source for risky or long-term research work that the private sector disfavors; and establishing a model of how public and private sectors can work cooperatively in a way to produces both collective and individual benefits. Also appealing is the prospect that the funding could serve as a corrective to the sector bias in private capital flows toward digital or less capital intensive projects (e.g., software), and away from more physical or capital intensive projects (e.g., manufacturing something).
  
  The proposal mostly works within existing institutional structures, and would be using money flows to encourage new activity and to change the working dynamic between the institutions. Although there would likely be a substantial need for new property, technical facilities, infrastructure, etc., existing organizations would provide the oversight. The work and risk around new entity formation would be centered on creating companies based on the discoveries and inventions.
  
  The authors are realistic in seeing a substantial private sector role, recognizing that researchers and inventors, as well as the government, will need help shaping their knowledge into a product that can succeed in a market.
  
  There are also creative ideas of how to handle the site selection process, and intriguing thoughts around how to socialize the economic benefits that are created.
  
  The authors’ funding suggestion is $100 billion per year, which seems modest when compared to the $400 billion per year it would take to match Federal innovation spending during its 1960s peak. A number somewhere in between could make more sense, as it would be a shame to develop a strong plan only to underfund it.
• If you think big government top down is the solution this book is for you. No surprise that this author thinks so. We remember his off record comments on health care broadcast on national TV candidly describing the voter as too stupid to understand the deception.
  
  He of course makes his obligatory snide remarks about Trump and the lame conservatives.
  
  He sets out his wish that the big hand of government would be so much better at driving growth than those selfish profit making companies. Look how great China is doing after all.
  
  I find this book the typical bloviating of a left leaning “superior intellect” saving us stupid Americans from ourselves.
  
  Who should read this drivel? No one.
• Bloomberg interview on bloomberg surveillance.