John Van Reenen: Why America needs a ‘Grand Innovation Challenge Fund’
Political Economy with Jim Pethokoukis - A podcast by AEI Podcasts - Tuesdays

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.” You can also check out the transcript of this podcast here.