How governments can do a better job of supporting entrepreneurship and venture capitalSilicon Valley, Singapore, Tel Aviv—the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity—all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should...

Entrepreneurship and innovation are widely recognized as key drivers of long-term economic growth. Understanding the forces that influence them is essential for policy design. Building on the twenty-year legacy of the NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy series, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy showcases recent research on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship policy. The volume reports on five research projects. First, leveraging detailed data from the Business For...

How to overcome barriers to the long-term investments that are essential for solving the world’s biggest problemsThere has never been a greater need for long-term investments to tackle the world’s most difficult problems, such as climate change and decaying infrastructure. And it is increasingly unlikely that the public sector will be willing or able to fill this gap. If these critical needs are to be met, the major pools of long-term, patient capital—including pen...

This volume presents studies from experts in twelve industries, providing insights into the future role of innovation and entrepreneurship in driving economic growth across sectors.We live in an era in which innovation and entrepreneurship seem ubiquitous, particularly in regions like Silicon Valley, Boston, and the Research Triangle Park. But many metrics of economic growth, such as productivity growth and business dynamism, have been at best modest in recent year...

The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce exceptional innovations to further democracy in the United States or around the world.The inaugural medal winner, the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), is an innovative not-for-profit organization that promotes "participatory budgeting," an inclusive process that empowers community members to make informed decisions about public spending. Mor...

The United States patent system has become sand rather than lubricant in the wheels of American progress. Such is the premise behind this provocative and timely book by two of the nation's leading experts on patents and economic innovation.Innovation and Its Discontents tells the story of how recent changes in patenting--an institutional process that was created to nurture innovation--have wreaked havoc on innovators, businesses, and economic productivity. Jaffe and Lerner...

The first comprehensive account of the growing dominance of the intangible economyEarly in the twenty-first century, a quiet revolution occurred. For the first time, the major developed economies began to invest more in intangible assets, like design, branding, R&D, and software, than in tangible assets, like machinery, buildings, and computers. For all sorts of businesses, from tech firms and pharma companies to coffee shops and gyms, the ability to deploy assets ...

A New York Times bestselling author and veteran board member offers an insider's view of corporate boards, their struggles, and why they must adapt to survive.Corporate boards are under great pressure. Scandals and malpractice at companies like Theranos, WeWork, Uber, and Wells Fargo have raised justified questions among regulators, shareholders, and the public about the quality of corporate governance. In How Boards Work, prizewinning economist a...

Find the right innovation modelInnovation is a much-used buzzword these days, but when it comes to creating and implementing a new idea, many companies miss the mark-plans backfire, consumer preferences shift, or tried-and-true practices fail to work in a new context. So is innovation just a low-odds crapshoot?In The Architecture of Innovation, Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner-one of the foremost experts on how innovation works-says in...

The one book you need to make a difference in the world.Social innovation and social entrepreneurship are rising forces. As the extent of the world's systemic challenges becomes clear—from climate change to income inequality to food security to healthcare and beyond—more and more of the best and brightest will feel called to become innovators and entrepreneurs who develop and deploy solutions to the world's thorniest problems.But it won't be easy: social in...

An expert’s inside look into the ways social entrepreneurship is changing the worldWhether you’re a policymaker, investor, or involved in a nonprofit, Social Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century gives you the knowledge you need to make the best possible decisions for the future. A former McKinsey consultant reveals how social entrepreneurship has filtered into the workings of government and private enterprise, where social sector values are now shaping “s...

The role of the state in modern capitalism has gone beyond fixing market failures. Those regions and countries that have succeeded in achieving “smart” innovation-led growth have benefited from long-term visionary “mission-oriented” policies—from putting a man on the moon to tackling societal challenges such as climate change and the wellbeing of an ageing population. This book collects the experience of different types of mission-oriented public institutions around the world, together wit...