Burundi Controversy

Burundi’s economy has long been troubled by weak infrastructure and poor influence in the technological sector.The government is essentially cash-strapped and ecologically challenged due to its tropical setting. Corruption and poor education systems have led the African country to become agriculturally dependent and has undermined the importance of innovation.

Mazzucato’s implication of the states role is described by doing more than just fixing market failures, but also shaping and creating markets. Furthermore, the state should fund basic and applied research and ultimately become a venture capitalist to fund high-risk investments and develop high-risk technologies. Conversely, the state has to welcome failure in order to achieve success.

He argues they have always been regulated by culture, norms, morality, and society. Free trade and government nonintervention was essentially planned. The impression of a free market utopia is a political creation and as a result the notion of a self-regulating economy is an illusion. Polanyi argued that self-regulating markets would fail. Furthermore, the state plays a critical role in managing the markets; most importantly managing land, labor, workforce, and money. This leads to the idea that the state and society are never forgotten in the economy. Markets are governed and regulated by the state. Polanyi’s idea of double movement displays the controversy between expanding the free market and protecting it. Ultimately, the state shall protect property rights, provide law and order, and defend individual rights. Burundi is a clear implication of a self-regulating market that has failed and continues to fail. There is no established market mechanism and lack of political power contributes to the self-regulating failed economy. Polanyi argued that a solution to this would be to implement a social democratic welfare state. As a result there will be equal opportunity and wealth which will sequentially lead to

The first category is core economics. Though only 15% of the worlds population, these core economics growth countries account for most of the worlds innovation and patents; countries like USA and Japan. The second group is known as technical diffusers. These countries make up ½ of the worlds population. Countries like China and India are known for their ability to produce technology for core economics. The last of the groups are marginally excluded countries such as sub-Saharan Africa because of their geographical isolation and poverty ridden economy. Sachs mentions the role of the state in the innovation economy through three views. He mentions the idea of brain draining. The government needs to provide sufficient infrastructure to keep local innovators from immigrating to other countries. Conversely, being cash-strapped deprives a countries ability to excel. Governments should be able to provide sufficient capital and invest in science and technology, ultimately becoming end users of the inventions. According to Sachs ideas, Burundi would need to receive assistance from private businesses, government laboratories, and not-for profit institutions to begin fostering innovation. Because technology fosters from ecology-specific locations, the tropical location of Burundi, makes the country isolated and makes it difficult to foster innovation. Conversely, Burundi needs to promote technological upgrade