Week 14 Reflection -- The Surprising History of Political Entrepreneurship

Dr. Folsom gave an insightful talk about the United States' history with political entrepreneurship and the difference between political entrepreneurship and market entrepreneurship. The first takeaway I got from the talk was the definition of political entrepreneurship. When I looked the definition up for the questions and response for this week, I got diverse answers, and concluded that political entrepreneurs were people who created a new policy, political party, or project. However, Dr. Folsom defined political entrepreneurship as governments interfering with and creating markets in an attempt to advance a nation. With that definition comes along the surprising fact that political entrepreneurship started in the 1800s with the steamship. The way that Congress so readily funded Edward Collins' steamship company to try and compete with England had me questioning if the government gives similar subsidies to the Big Tech companies now in an attempt to stay ahead of the innovation in other nations. After researching, I found that "Besides Intel, Google is the top tech company that receives government subsidies, picking up $630 million..." (Irvine) Other companies on the list of largest government subsidies were Disney and Wal-Mart. Additionally, Folsom's example of the government funding Collins' more expensive project rather than Vanderbilt's cheaper one solely because they were scared they would fall behind in the market shows the government will pay companies they know will keep them ahead, even if they have to pay more. Certain companies like Google, Disney, and Wal-Mart dominate the markets they're in because they get mass funding from the government and are able to squash the competition. It is frightening how similar the Collins' situation in the 1800s compares to almost the entire market today. Towards the end of Dr. Folsom's talk, I was particularly intrigued by the creation of the airplane by both government involvement and non-government involvement. When government got involved and tried to kickstart the airplane, the New York Times did not bash the project in any way. Rather, they seemed optimistic that it would eventually be successful. Given the credibility of the New York Times, there were many people who probably believed this. In contrast, I found that many people did not believe the Wright brothers when they told the public they created a successful airplane. (Cornell) This reminds me of the press today; it is clear that many popular newspapers, the New York Times included, favor the government in a majority of their articles and therefore favor the companies the government funds. Then, because of their credibility, many citizens take their articles at face value and grow to favor the government-funded companies that the newspapers favor. This leads to a harmed, more monopolized market that adds power to these companies and decreases competition. Dr. Folsom demonstrates in his talk the need for self-made innovators and the skepticism that should be taken into account when supporting and trusting government-funded companies.

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