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.”

How will cities be affected in the long term by the COVID-19 pandemic? Will transit systems and real estate markets revert back to normal any time soon? And how can policymakers handle the impending state and local budget shortfalls? In today’s podcast, I discuss these questions with Nicole Gelinas.

Nicole is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal, where she writes on urban economics and finance. She is also a columnist for the New York Post and the author of “After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street — and Washington.”

Despite the best of intentions, regulations often hold back our economy, allowing entrenched interests to block innovations which would benefit consumers and promote human progress. But some companies — particularly
in the tech sector — have refused to accept this and skirt local and federal
rules in order to innovate without permission. So how much does regulation hold back innovation in America? And how are entrepreneurs challenging this trend? I’ll be exploring these questions today with Adam Thierer.

Adam is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he focuses on the public policy concerns surrounding emerging technologies. He is the author of “Permissionless Innovation: The Continuing Case for Comprehensive Technological Freedom” (2014) and “Evasive Entrepreneurs and the Future of Governance: How Innovation Improves Economies and Governments” (2020).

Is American innovation plateauing? How can we encourage more
of it, both through public policy and culture? Should we be concerned that
China’s innovative capacities will overtake us? And what really motivates
innovators to innovate, anyway? Matt Ridley recently joined me for an AEI webinar
to discuss these questions, and I’m happy to present our conversation to you
all in podcast form.

Matt is the award-winning and bestselling author of numerous books, including “The Evolution of Everything” and “The Rational Optimist”. Since 2013, Matt has also been a member of the House of Lords. His new book is “How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom”.

To many, it seems as though America has failed to live up to its potential over the past several decades, with far less to show for its innovative efforts than one might have expected a half century ago. But the future is brimming with possibilities, and, at the very least, the COVID-19 pandemic has signaled that “It’s time to build,” as one observer recently put it. To explore why America has failed to “build” in the past — and how it may reprioritize innovation going forward — I’m speaking today with Eli Dourado.

Eli is a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University, where he focuses on the technology, innovation, and economic growth. Previously, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

How will the economy change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? Will we see a
crippling decline in productivity growth? Will our embrace of digital technology yield benefits? And will the post-pandemic economy be defined more by a redoubled commitment to innovation or by increased risk-aversion? On today’s episode of Political Economy, I explore these questions with Chad Syverson.

Chad is the George C. Tiao Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Along with Filippo di Mauro, he recently wrote an article for VoxEU, titled “The COVID crisis and productivity growth”.

Why was Europe the source of the Great Enrichment? Why is China still a dictatorship after opening its economy to the world? And what do the recent successes of South Korea and Taiwan represent? According to today’s guest, James Robinson, these questions are best understood through the following framework: Nations only become free and prosperous when there is a state strong enough to secure liberty and provide public services and a society strong enough to prevent the state from becoming despotic. This necessary competition between state and society opens the “narrow corridor” to liberty.

James is the Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He and Daron Acemoglu are the co-authors of 2012’s Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty and their 2019 follow-up, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty.

Decades of apocalyptic rhetoric surrounding the issue of climate change has failed to garner support for the austerity-based solutions on the table. Accordingly, Matt Frost and Jim Pethokoukis discuss how a climate policy agenda centered around promoting energy abundance is a better approach to mitigating climate change than doubling down on fatalistic messages and policy proposals that would make us poorer.

Matt is an environmental policy technologist, the deputy director of the Marine Biological Association, and the author of the recently published The New Atlantis article, “After Climate Despair”.

Do politicians behave worse when they’re up for re-election? How effective and accountable can non-elected policymakers be? And has the government’s response to COVID-19 bolstered or weakened the case for democracy? I explore these questions, and many more, with Garett Jones.

Garett is an associate professor of economics and the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is the author of two books: Hive Mind: How Your Nation’s IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own and 10% Less Democracy: Why You Should Trust Elites a Little More and the Masses a Little Less.

How entrenched are America’s biggest tech companies — will they remain dominant 10 or 20 years into the future? In the meantime, how should these companies handle concerns surrounding data privacy or controversies regarding content moderation? And how likely is China to surpass America on the tech frontier? In today’s episode, Ben Thompson and I explore each of these questions at length.

Ben is the author and founder of Stratechery, a subscription-based newsletter focused on business and strategy for the technology industry. He also co-hosts the Exponent podcast about tech and society, along with James Allworth.