Jump-Starting America – How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream

“Science is what makes the middle class,” explained co-authors of Jump-Starting America and MIT professors, Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson, during the Detroit Economic Club meeting on Tuesday. Gruber and Johnson explained how government investment in science and innovation was fundamental in America’s mid-twentieth century success and how this premise should be considered as a blueprint for our economic future. “The problem is that talent attracts talent - if you want to be innovative and you want to have a startup - you pull to where the capital is already. Our argument in the book is that it doesn't have to be this way,” Johnson stated. “There are thirty-six other states across the country that have possible next-generation tech hubs -- and this is how to have a strategic, economic development of science and technology to create better jobs.” -- Speakers: Jonathan Gruber Ford Professor of Economics Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Simon Johnson Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Moderator: Peter Bhatia Editor & Vice President Detroit Free Press   Presiding Officer: Ralph Gerson Treasurer & Director William Davidson Foundation