Google Images

Earlier this month, The Daily Beast columnist David Frum took the opportunity of a book review of Michael Grunwald’s The New New Deal to deride the idea of direct public investment in energy innovation: “The single largest chunk of federal stimulus spending – the almost $90 billion in direct federal investment in new energy technology – seems to have gone up into the ether leaving little behind,” Frum writes. Unfortunately, Frum’s comments are just the latest misguided take on energy innovation policy and the role of public investments in spurring next-generation technology development.