Innovation Policy for the 21st Century

Robert D. Atkinson and David Audretsch, in a recent paper, write (pdf):

Innovation policy has gotten short shrift in the U.S. political dialogue largely because the three dominant economic policy models – conservative neoclassical, liberal neoclassical and neo-Keynesian economic doctrines– advocated by most economic advisors, and implicitly held by most Washington policymakers, ignore the role of innovation and technology in achieving economic growth in the global, knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. Unfortunately, while the U.S. economy has been transformed by the forces of technology, globalization, and entrepreneurship, the doctrines guiding economic policymakers have not kept pace and continue to be informed by 20th century conceptualizations, models, and theories.