
Mariana Mazzucato is the leading economist in analysing the frontiers of engagement between modern states and the private sector. Their pursuit involves the State developing new ways of engaging with economies and societies and managing very high levels of risk and return. As societies confront many challenges, from climate change to Covid, the demands for exceptional achievements are great. Moonshot projects are endeavours of unique ambition that transcend limitations by extraordinary imagination and effort.
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The controversy overshadowed the development of the renewable energy sector in what the memoir describes as a “clean energy moonshot”. at how Solyndra’s failure stood to overshadow the Recovery Act’s remarkable success in galvanising the renewable energy sector”. Obama writes that he “couldn’t help but fume. Recriminations were loud and politically damaging. Allegations of severe mismanagement were made. Their product became uncompetitive, the company failed and the loan was lost. Solyndra, a solar panel company, received a $535 million loan. The Obama administration supported the solar and wind sector during the financial crisis.

One of the more rueful passages in Barack Obama’s volume of presidential memoirs is a controversy that attracted little attention outside of the US.
