Doing capitalism in the innovation economy
by William H. Janeway · first published 2012
50% recommend50% neutral
"The innovation economy begins with discovery and culminates in speculation. Over some 250 years, economic growth has been driven by successive processes of trial and error: upstream exercises in research and invention and downstream experiments in exploiting the new economic space opened by innovation. Drawing on his professional experiences, William H. Janeway provides an accessible pathway for readers to appreciate the dynamics of the innovation economy. He combines personal reflections from a career spanning forty years in venture capital, with the development of an original theory of the
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The book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy by William Janeway has a fantastic history of speculative bubbles and venture capital, and then some. It's a tough book to read if you don't have a background in finance and econ, but it's well worth…
on “Zynga Shuts Down OMGPOP One Year After Acquiring It For $200M” ↗Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy by Bill Janeway blew my mind. It's a tough read, because it assumes a lot of prior knowledge of academic econ and finance. Also, what I would regard as lackluster editing makes comprehension a challenge…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗The fantastic book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy [1] digs a lot into the roles of the market, the government, and the financial industry in the western economy. It's a challenging read, but a fantastic book if you can make it through. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Capitalism-Innovation-Economy-Sp...
on “The Secret History of Silicon Valley (2010)” ↗Interestingly, this reminds me a lot of the view espoused by Bill Janeway in Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy [1], which, among many other things, studies the history of business cycles. It's a great book. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Capitalism-Innovation-Economy-Sp...
on “Sorry to burst your bubble” ↗…don't have the kind of strategic intelligence that can fund projects like Whirlwind, TX-0, and the original Arpanet - all of which are essential steps on the road to making an Apple or a Google. The book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy [1] really hammers in this point. I highly recommend it to people who have an interest in this. I wrote a review that captures a lot of my reflections on the book itself and the subject matter [2]. [1]…
on “The Refragmentation” ↗My oft-recommended book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy [1] hammers on this idea of that financing of speculative vs. mundane ventures are fundamentally different games. The author argues that speculative finance is a good thing, as long as it's not just speculating…
on “Finance is Not the Economy” ↗There's also a very good book by Bill Janeway (of Wargburg Pincus notoriety) on the same subject called 'Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Reconfiguring the Three-Player Game between Markets, Speculators and the State'. He argues the same point about the states roll in RnD (also explicitly calls out DARPA) and also their role in booms…
on “The US Army spent millions developing giant, six-legged walking trucks in 1980s” ↗Check out the book Doing Capitalism In The Innovation Economy for a defense of the government encouraging exactly this sort of thing. I reviewed it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2SCHS5SXNDF30. Point being, we want exactly this sort of thing, but…
on “The purpose of Tesla is not to make money” ↗…the resources required to address windows of opportunity that often arise in times of turmoil. This perspective helps to put into context the praise of inefficiency in Bill Janeway’s important new book, Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy." Well, to build in redundancy you need market manipulation (FDIC for example), otherwise markets will tend to overfitness. If you are claiming that "antifragility" = laissez-faire you are completely…
on “Trading in Stocks, ETFs Was Halted More Than 1,200 Times Early Monday” ↗Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy by William Janeway (http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Capitalism-Innovation-Economy-Sp...) is not a history book per se, but it does contain a pretty thorough survey of bubbles and busts over the past several…
on “Ask PG and HN: What is your recommended reading list for economic history?” ↗I've seen a few similar threads on so far. Here are ones that I've added to my list (haven't gotten to read them yet). Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, permutation city, diaspora, quantum theif, glass bead game, sapiens
on “Ask HN: What books should I read this summer?” ↗