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Innovation and Public Policy

Using the latest empirical and conceptual research for readers in economics, business, and policy, this volume surveys the key components of innovation policy and the social returns to innovation investment. 

In advanced economies like the United States, innovation has long been recognized as a central force for increasing economic prosperity and human welfare. Today, the US government promotes innovation through various mechanisms, including tax credits for private-sector research, grant support for basic and applied research, and institutions like the Small Business Innovation Research Program of the National Science Foundation. Drawing on the latest empirical and conceptual research, Innovation and Public Policy surveys the key components of innovation policy and the social returns to innovation investment. It examines mechanisms that can advance the pace of invention and innovative activity, including expanding the research workforce through schooling and immigration policy and funding basic research. It also considers scientific grant systems for funding basic research, including those at institutions like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and investigates the role of entrepreneurship policy and of other institutions that promote an environment conducive to scientific breakthroughs.

Reviews

"As advanced economies worldwide experience slowing productivity growth, the time is ripe for new research on innovation policy. This book is therefore timely, collating seven new papers on the topic from renowned scholars. These papers build on well-established literature to offer a rich menu of policy prescriptions, evaluate large swathes of recent empirical work and provide new frameworks for approaching old problems in innovation policy."

Economic Record

Table of Contents

Preface
 
Introduction
Austan Goolsbee and Benjamin F. Jones
1. A Calculation of the Social Returns to Innovation
Benjamin F. Jones and Lawrence H. Summers
2. Innovation and Human Capital Policy
John Van Reenen
3. Immigration Policy Levers for US Innovation and Start-Ups
Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
4. Scientific Grant Funding
Pierre Azoulay and Danielle Li
5. Tax Policy for Innovation
Bronwyn H. Hall
6. Taxation and Innovation: What Do We Know?
Ufuk Akcigit and Stefanie Stantcheva
7. Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship
Josh Lerner
 
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index

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