Neither markets nor government alone are the solution. They both are problems and solution at the same time. That's life and that's democracy.
Someone has already supplied counter examples from Sweden. I will give you one from India. ISRO is a government organization, it operates on shoe string budget as compared to its competitors and still does wonders. Why here isn't a wealthy Indian group(Ambani, TATA etc) spending money on fundamental research.
Counter example is Indian IT sector. Do you see any company investing in anything fundamental. I think this behaviors is a classic example of rent seeking. They are perfectly happy playing the middleman seeking a commission.
In reality most of the private organizations are the real rent seekers. They shy away from anything where making money in short term is not possible. I will encourage you to watch this talk[1]. Private companies just polish and market the fundamental research done at Government organization once its utility is proven beyond the point. IMHO this should be called rent seeking. its akin to building a hotel in an area once Government have build the basic infrastructure.
Take the example of deep learning as it is the hot topic nowadays. Private funding started flowing only when Geoffrey Hinton working for University of Toronto proved the viability of it beyond question.
Someone has already supplied counter examples from Sweden. I will give you one from India. ISRO is a government organization, it operates on shoe string budget as compared to its competitors and still does wonders. Why here isn't a wealthy Indian group(Ambani, TATA etc) spending money on fundamental research.
Counter example is Indian IT sector. Do you see any company investing in anything fundamental. I think this behaviors is a classic example of rent seeking. They are perfectly happy playing the middleman seeking a commission.
In reality most of the private organizations are the real rent seekers. They shy away from anything where making money in short term is not possible. I will encourage you to watch this talk[1]. Private companies just polish and market the fundamental research done at Government organization once its utility is proven beyond the point. IMHO this should be called rent seeking. its akin to building a hotel in an area once Government have build the basic infrastructure.
Take the example of deep learning as it is the hot topic nowadays. Private funding started flowing only when Geoffrey Hinton working for University of Toronto proved the viability of it beyond question.