Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts

of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org

where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast, and find links to

another information related to today's conversation. Our email address is mailadicontalk.org. We'd

love to hear from you. Today is December 14, 2011, and my guest is Alex Taverak of George Mason

University. His latest book is Launching the Innovation Renaissance. It's an ebook available

for Kendall at all at Amazon and elsewhere for $2.99. It's a TED book. Alex has a TED talk

based related to the book. Alex, welcome to Econ Talk. Great. Great to be here. So I want to

start with the problem. The book is proposing to fix or at least improve, which is our innovation

situation in the United States. I think most people still see the United States as a very

innovative place, maybe not in 2011 because our economy is not doing very well, but it's

still considered a place and source of innovation. So why is there a concern about the current

levels of innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States? Well, innovation is one

of those things that more is better. So I think we would certainly like more. Now I do take

for granted in this book what my colleague Tyler Cowan has called the Great Stagnation.

Whether you call it a great or modest stagnation, it is true that since about 1973, the rate

of productivity growth in the United States has been below its trend, below its trend for

in 1947 to 1973. And we've been falling below that. And as you know, productivity is the

single most important factor in creating a high standard of living. When we can do more

with less, that is better than anything else. And so when our productivity levels are less

than what they might be, that's going to be a subject for concern. Yeah, I certainly agree

with that. I certainly was part of that, which is that more is better. And I wish we had

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