Learning from Overrated Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies: Seven Takeaways

Magnus Henrekson (), Christian Sandström () and Mikael Stenkula
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Christian Sandström: Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden

No 1478, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: This paper integrates findings from several different case studies on Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies (MOIPs) and makes use of existing literature to briefly describe three other missions: The War on Cancer, homeownership in the United States, and the Swedish Million Program. Together with the analyses in the contributions in the volume Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy: Questioning the Mission Economy, seven takeaways regarding mission-oriented innovation policies are developed and described: 1) wicked problems cannot be solved through missions, 2) politicians and government agencies are not exempt from self-interest, 3) MOIPs are subject to rent-seeking and mission capture, 4) policymakers lack information to design MOIPs, 5) MOIPs distort competition, 6) government support programs distort incentives and result in moral hazard, and 7) MOIPs ignore opportunity costs. These seven takeaways are illustrated using the cases described in this essay and in other contributions in the above-mentioned volume.

Keywords: Mission-oriented policies; Innovation policy; New industrial policy; Moonshots; Rent seeking; Public choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H50 L26 L52 O31 O38 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2023-11-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-hme, nep-ino, nep-sbm and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Chapter: Learning from Overrated Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies: Seven Takeaways (2024)
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