… is from page 84 of the May 9th, 2020, draft of the important forthcoming monograph from Deirdre McCloskey and Alberto Mingardi, The Illiberal and Anti-Entrepreneurial State of Mariana Mazzucato:
Such is the reiterated premise of Mazzucato’s books: that the State courageously ventures into the High Frontier, “taking the kind of risk the private sector is not willing to take.” She does not worry overmuch that the reason no private entity will so venture is that the venture is rubbish in an economic sense—and probably in any other sense ones cares to mention—and that courageous spending on the High Frontier lowers human welfare.
DBx: It’s flabbergasting that anyone over the age of five believes that giving Jones the power to spend Smith’s money will result in Smith’s money being spent more wisely than if Smith spends that money. Triply flabbergasting is the fact that such a fairy tale is believed and trumpeted by someone trained as an economist.
