Jump-Starting America: A Conversation with Jon Gruber on Economic Growth and the American Dream

Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive
Economic Growth and the American Dream

Following World War II, the U.S. led the world in innovation, creating entirely new sectors such as jet aircraft, life-saving drugs, satellites, and digital computers. Household income increased faster than ever before, while inequality declined. But since the 1970s, U.S. productivity growth has slowed. The CBO projects growth in the mid‐2020s of only 1.7 percent. What happened?

In Jump-Starting America, Jonathan Gruber and his coauthor, Simon Johnson, argue that policymakers forgot one of the most important lessons they’d learned: The private sector, left to its own devices, will not close the income and opportunity gaps in America. Private enterprise is most effective when government provides strong underlying support for science and for the commercialization of inventions.

Join Gruber, an architect of both Romneycare and Obamacare, and Katherine Baicker, dean and Emmett Dedmon Professor at Harris Public Policy, for a discussion where they will discuss the importance of innovation in the marketplace, and the need for smart public policy solutions to combat increasing inequality across the United States. Gruber will also be participating in a book signing.

Meet the Author: Jonathan Gruber

Jonathan Gruber is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. An architect of both Romneycare and Obamacare, he appears regularly on news outlets ranging from Fox News to MSNBC. Slate has named him one of the top twenty-five “Most Innovative and Practical Thinkers of Our Time.” In addition to over 175 academic articles, he is the author of Health Care Reform (Hill & Wang), a graphic novel about the Affordable Care Act, Public Finance and Public Policy (Worth), the leading textbook in public finance, and six other books.

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