Josh Lerner

Felda Hardymon

Ann Leamon

A Casebook

Venture Capital and Private Equity

How governments can do a better job of supporting entrepreneurship and venture capital Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tel Aviv—the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity—all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should the government be involved in such undertakings at all? Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the first extensive look at the ways governments have supported entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across decades and continents. Josh Lerner, one of the foremost experts in the field, provides valuable insights into why some public initiatives work while others are hobbled by pitfalls, and he offers suggestions for how public ventures should be implemented in the future. Discussing the complex history of Silicon Valley and other pioneering centers of venture capital, Lerner uncovers the extent of government influence in prompting growth. He examines the public strategies used to advance new ventures, points to the challenges of these endeavors, and reveals the common flaws undermining far too many programs—poor design, a lack of understanding for the entrepreneurial process, and implementation problems. Lerner explains why governments cannot dictate how venture markets evolve, and why they must balance their positions as catalysts with an awareness of their limited ability to stimulate the entrepreneurial sector. As governments worldwide seek to spur economic growth in ever more aggressive ways, Boulevard of Broken Dreams offers an important caution. The book argues for a careful approach to government support of entrepreneurial activities, so that the mistakes of earlier efforts are not repeated.

Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed--and What to Do about It

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Drawing on the tools of game design to fix democracy.

How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics

Making Democracy Fun

Victoria Ivashina

How to overcome barriers to the long-term investments that are essential for solving the world’s biggest problems There has never been a greater need for long-term investments to tackle the world’s most difficult problems, such as climate change, human health, and decaying infrastructure. And it is increasingly unlikely that the public sector will be willing or able to fill this gap. If these critical needs are to be met, the major pools of long-term, patient capital—including pensions, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and wealthy individuals and families—will have to play a large role. In this accessible and authoritative account of long-term capital investment, two leading experts on the subject, Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner, highlight the significant hurdles facing long-term investors and propose concrete ways to overcome these difficulties.

The Challenges and Promises of Long-Term Investing

Patient Capital

In the newly revised second edition of Venture Capital, Private Equity, and the Financing of Entrepreneurship, a dedicated team of researchers and professionals delivers an authoritative and comprehensive account of the world of active investing. This important work demonstrates how venture capitalists and private equity investors do business and create value for entrepreneurs, shareholders, and other stakeholders. The authors, drawing on decades of combined experience studying and participating in the private equity markets, discuss the players, dynamics, and the incentives that drive the industry. They also describe various possibilities for the future development of private equity. This latest edition is perfect for advanced undergraduate students of finance and business, as well as MBA students seeking an insightful and accessible textbook describing the private equity markets.

Venture Capital, Private Equity, and the Financing of Entrepreneurship

Scott Stern

While the importance of innovation to economic development is widely understood, the conditions conducive to it remain the focus of much attention. This volume offers new theoretical and empirical contributions to fundamental questions relating to the economics of innovation and technological change while revisiting the findings of a classic book. Central to the development of new technologies are institutional environments, and among the topics discussed here are the roles played by universities and other nonprofit research institutions and the ways in which the allocation of funds between the public and private sectors affects innovation. Other essays examine the practice of open research and how the diffusion of information technology influences the economics of knowledge accumulation. Analytically sophisticated and broad in scope, this book addresses a key topic at a time when economic growth is all the more topical.

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited

Paul Gompers

"This book provides profound and balance insight into what venture capital is all about." In The Venture Capital Cycle, Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner correct widespread misperceptions about the nature and role of the venture capitalist and provide an accessible and comprehensive overview of the venture capital industry. Bringing together fifteen years of ground-breaking research into the form and function of venture capital firms, they examine the fund-raising, investing, and exit stages of venture capitalists. Three major themes run throughout the process: venture investors confront tremendous information and incentive problems; venture capital processes are inherently interrelated, and a complete understanding of the industry requires a full understanding of the venture cycle; and, unlike most financial markets, the venture capital industry adjusts very slowly to shifts in the demand for and the supply of investment capital.This second edition has been thoroughly revised in light of recent research findings, and includes six new chapters. The first part, on fund-raising, now includes a chapter that examines what determines the level of venture capital fund-raising and how tax policy influences the demand for venture capital. Three new chapters in the second part, on investing, examine what kind of distortions are introduced when the venture capital market goes dramatically up, a question prompted by the 1999-2000 market bubble; demonstrate that the venture capital industry does indeed spur innovation, an important determinant of economic growth; and examine whether and under what circumstances governments can be effective venture capitalists. Two new chapters in the third part, on exiting venture capital investments, discuss whether venture capital firms affiliated with investment-banks are prone to conflicts of interest with public offerings and how lockups on initial public offerings are used to limit conflicts of interest.

The Venture Capital Cycle, second edition

Paul A. Gompers

How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth

The Money of Invention

Discussing the complex history of Silicon Valley and other pioneering centres of venture capital, Lerner uncovers the extent of government influence in prompting growth. He examines the public strategies used to advance new ventures and reveals the common flaws undermining far too many programmes.

Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed--and What to Do About It

Adam B. Jaffe

Essays on the interactions among public policy, innovation, and the economy.

Innovation Policy and the Economy

The chapters in this twentieth volume of Innovation Policy and the Economy present research on the interactions among public policy, the innovation process, and the economy. One explores changes in the ability of the U.S. to attract talented foreign workers and the role of sponsoring institutions in shaping immigration policy. Another explains how the division of innovative labor between research universities and corporate labs affected productivity growth and the transformation of knowledge into new products and processes. A third reviews different innovation policies and their performance in the pharmaceutical sector. Next is a chapter on the effects of competition policy on innovation, “creative destruction,” and economic growth. A fifth chapter studies how experimental policy design can be a cost-effective way to attain program goals. The last chapter examines geographic disparities in innovation, joblessness, and technological dynamism and studies how reallocation of grants and geographically targeted entrepreneurship policy could affect labor supply and welfare.

Volume 20

Innovation Policy and the Economy, 2019

What Explains the Recent Tremendous Growth in Private Equity Funds? How Have These Funds Created so Much Value? Can We Expect This Kind of Growth in Other Countries and Other Types of Investments? The pool of U.S. private equity funds has grown from $5 billion in 1980 to over $175 billion in 1999. Private equity's recent growth has outstripped that of almost every class of financial product. Whether you are an entrepreneur seeking private equity finance, a private equity investor grappling with the industry's changes, or an investor interested in private equity as a potential investment, this book is required reading! It presents a collection of real world cases-supplemented by detailed industry notes-that explore the exciting and dynamic world of venture capital and buyout funds. The organization mirrors that of the venture capital/private equity process itself: * The first part explores the raising and structuring of private equity funds, as well as the perspective of investors. * The second part explores the selection,oversight, and adding value to firms-the 'heart' of the private equity cycle. * The third part describes how private equity groups reap attractive returns from successful investments. * The final section explores the emerging efforts to translate the private equity model into other settings, such as corporate venturing programs.

This volume offers contributions to questions relating to the economics of innovation and technological change. Central to the development of new technologies are institutional environments and among the topics discussed are the roles played by universities and the ways in which the allocation of funds affects innovation.

The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce exceptional innovations to further democracy in the United States or around the world. The inaugural medal winner, the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), is an innovative not-for-profit organization that promotes "participatory budgeting," an inclusive process that empowers community members to make informed decisions about public spending. More than 46,000 people in communities across the United States have decided how to spend $45 million through programs that PBP helped spark over the last five years. In Everyone Counts, PBP co-founder and executive director Josh Lerner provides a concise history of the organization’s origins and its vision, highlighting its real-world successes in fostering grassroots budgeting campaigns in such cities as New York, Boston, and Chicago. As more and more communities turn to participatory budgeting as a means of engaging citizens, prioritizing civic projects, and allocating local, state, and federal funding, this cogent volume will offer guidance and inspiration to others who want to transform democracy in the United States and elsewhere. "The Participatory Budgeting Project exemplifies the essential features the award committee was looking for in its inaugural recipient. Political and economic inequality is part of the American national discussion, and participatory budgeting helps empower marginalized groups that do not normally take part in a process that is so critical for democratic life."— John Gastil, Director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy

Josh Lerner

Books

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