Comment by therealdrag0

4 days ago

There was a really interesting episode of EconTalk podcast about 6 years ago which had a guest (woman, if it helps find it) arguing that the US gov should invest in and have ownership of a lot more startups, similar to how they funded Tesla.

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therealdrag0

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robocat  4 days ago

Investment is about voting/control, not just money.

From a purely financial perspective, federal taxation on companies would be similar to owning shares (except ≈preferential since the government usually gets paid first).

From a voting and control perspective, we usually don't want the government getting involved (the government should be using industry regulations, and avoiding trying to pick winners).

In New Zealand our government screws up everything it has an ownership stake in (notably electricity and rail).

  • therealdrag0  4 days ago

    Ack.

    Here’s the podcast if you’re interested. I know the host shares more of your view so it was an interesting discussion though I don’t remember the details. https://www.econtalk.org/mariana-mazzucato-on-the-value-of-e...

    AI summary:

    Mazzucato argues that: * Governments do far more than correct market failures—they actively create markets. * Public investment has been essential to many major technological breakthroughs. * Governments should be willing to invest in high-risk innovation, much like venture capitalists. * When taxpayers finance risky innovation, the public should sometimes receive a share of the upside rather than only bearing the downside.

    • robocat  2 days ago

      Thanks for the link - started listening but not my cup of T.

      Most thought gets hyperfocused on money, however value is mostly invisible - economic utility and externalities.

      Can a government get dollars from progress? No: for example the returns from science or open source are hard to value. The idea of a government owning shares to get a return on investment is extremely silly.

      Secondly governments often make huge mistakes if trying to decide on purposeful investments.

      Much of the world's wealth has come about despite government choices, and bureaucratic red tape usually hinders true wealth creation.

      It is a very hard topic to think about.

      And discussion seems to get derailed by focusing on dollars and how to cut the pie up.

      We are all deeply irrational.