Gröna bubblor skapas av politiska systemfel
Sammanfattning
Sandström, C., & Björnemalm, R. (2023). Gröna bubblor skapas av politiska systemfel, slutreplik, Ekonomisk Debatt, 51(1), ss. 1-4.
Sandström, C., & Björnemalm, R. (2023). Gröna bubblor skapas av politiska systemfel, slutreplik, Ekonomisk Debatt, 51(1), ss. 1-4.
2023
Ratio Working Paper Series.
Mission-oriented innovation policies put government and state agencies at the forefront of the innovation process. PrFiguesently, little is known about the interests of the government agencies in charge of implementing mission-oriented innovation policies. In this chapter, we set out to explore the incentives and behavior of such government agencies. We do so by analyzing 30 annual reports from three different government agencies in charge of implementing innovation policies in Sweden over a ten-year period: Sweden’s Innovation Agency (Vinnova), the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket). First, we track all cases in these annual reports where an evaluation is mentioned. Identifying 654 instances, we subsequently make a sentiment analysis and code whether these statements are positive, neutral or negative. Our findings show that 84 percent of these instances are positive, 12 percent are neutral and four percent are negative. Second, we relate these results to more critical evaluations and show that these agencies often ignore research that generates more critical results. In sum, our results suggest that government agencies in charge of implementing mission-oriented policies benefit from the enlarged role they are given and that they act according to their own self- interest.
2023
Ekonomisk Debatt, 51(5), 87-90.
Sandström, C., & Åkesson, N. (2023). Recension: Andrew McAfee: Mer från mindre – hur kapitalism och ny teknik kan rädda världen. Ekonomisk Debatt, 51(5), 87-90.
2023
Future Europe Journal, 8.
This paper discusses the notion of an entrepreneurial state and questions the European Union’s (EUs) increasingly interventionist industrial policies. The EU’s green deal is a massive effort to steer the economy in new directions. Unfortunately, green deals have often resulted in green bubbles, i.e. overinvestments that fail to generate any sustainable businesses or industrial transformation in the long term. This paper presents a couple of illustrative examples of failed green deals and synthesises some of the main findings. A couple of factors jointly explain the persistent failure of green deals, including (1) if something sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true; (2) governments lack incentives and capabilities to act as entrepreneurs; and (3) allocation of large sums of ‘free’ money to innovation and entrepreneurship distort behaviour. Green transitions become more successful when policymakers impose laws and regulations to deal with negative externalities.