Note: this is a crosspost from my Substack, Positive Sum.

I'm spending the next six months reading 30+ books about innovation policy, trying to understand a perspective I've been disregarding my whole career.

Our tech policy debates are stuck because we're talking past each other. Arguments continually circle back to one thing: whether regulation will harm innovation.

Usually, us leftists see “protecting innovation” as a weak, catch-all excuse used by people on the right. A superficial one at best, a cover for greed at worst.

But now, because of progress writers, AI, and my decade in government, I am intensely curious:

What actually is the nature of innovation? Which regulations helped or hurt? How do you prevent the kind of public backlash that killed nuclear power? What types of private governance actually work?

I’ll post here on Substack as I learn from these books.

The list is based on recommendations from researchers at libertarian and progress-focused think tanks, innovation-focused philanthropic organizations, friends, and Claude.

I’m a few books short of 35. Do you have any recommendations?

0. Pre-reading:

How to Measure Anything by Douglas W. Hubbard, on how to make back-of-the-envelope estimates. A useful skill for the rest of the syllabus.

Innovation, growth, and societal advancement from historical, cultural, and economic perspectives

"The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World" by David Deutsch (foundational philosophical framework)

"Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy" by Joel Mokyr

"Levers of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress" by Joel Mokyr

"Secrets of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter" by anthropologist Joseph Henrich

“The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous” by Joseph Henrich

“A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World” by Gregory Clark

"How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom" by Matt Ridley

"Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World" by George Gilder

"Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages" by Carlota Perez

"Science: The Endless Frontier" by Vannevar Bush (Historical foundation for US innovation policy)

"From Poverty to Prosperity...

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