Norek, M. & Wennberg, K. (2015). “Virtuous decision-making in entrepreneurship”. I Karlson, N., Norek M. & K. Wennberg (red.), Virtues in Entrepreneurship (s. 38–56). Stockholm: Ratio.
2022
Questioning the Entrepreneurial State, 219.
This chapter investigates Chinese wind power development and concludes that innovation cannot be pushed by the efforts of many, and that when the state clarifies directions and objectives, these can be achieved but with severe and unexpected side effects. Two topics are explored: wind curtailment and low technological development, both examples of unproductive entrepreneurship induced by government policies. The goal of wind power capacity expansion leads to construction (i.e., generation capacity) but little electricity. Examples of failures include low grid connectivity with, some years averaging 15% of generation capacity broken or unconnected to the grid. A key lesson for Europe is that forced innovation often amounts to little and that the old saying holds up: “no plan survives contact with reality.”
The book can be downloaded here.
2022
Western economies are struggling to recover from a decade of Plagued by structural crises, an ongoing pandemic, high unemployment and sluggish growth. As progressively looser monetary and fiscal policies have not helped, both the EU and national governments have increasingly turned towards interventionist industrial policies. Mariana Mazzucato’s The Entrepreneurial State (2011) provided an intellectual justification for these efforts, and consequently gained popularity. The message was clear: in order to get more innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainable development and growth we need more government, not less. In this book, 30 international scholars address the core ideas underpinning the entrepreneurial state. We provide evidence of both historical and recent failures of “green deals” and similar efforts, while also developing novel directions for innovation policy. In many regards, this book is a warning: huge government schemes towards specific, noble outcomes have historically been plagued with failures. In sum, we argue that innovation policy needs to be inverted: instead of being specific and targeted, it needs to be broad and general, focusing on the general conditions for firms to operate. Instead of providing targeted support to certain firms, industries or even technologies, innovation policy needs to constructively deal with barriers to innovation, including the proactive handling of vested interest groups.
The book is open access and can be downloaded here.
2021
Ekon. Debatt, 49, 30-41.
Antalet utvärderingar av ekonomisk politik ökar explosionsartat. Det finns dock få systematiska sammanställningar av de utvärderingar som görs och det saknas kunskap om hur utvärderare skiljer sig åt gällande metoder och slutsatser, inte minst inom näringspolitiken. Vi studerar utvärderingar av 110 näringspoli-tiska insatser 2009–19 genom att granska huruvida valet av utvärderare påver-kar utvärderingarnas resultat. Privata konsulter visar sig vara den vanligaste utvärderaren av näringspolitik och deras utvärderingar skiljer sig från andra utvärderare genom att vara övervägande mer positiva till de utvärderade insat-serna. Vi diskuterar intressekonflikter som kan antas föreligga mellan utvärde-rare, myndigheter, den politiska makten och allmänheten.
Colin, E., Sandström, C., & Wennberg, C. (2021). Utvärderingar av näringspolitik–en intressekonflikt mellan myndigheter, konsultföretag, politik och skattebetalare. Ekon. Debatt, 49, 30-41.
