Restarting the Future. How to Fix the Intangible Economy

Translation from English by A. Rezvov. – Moscow: Gaidar Institute Press, 2025. – 408 p.

ISBN 978-5-93255-690-0

The past two decades have witnessed slow economic growth, increasing inequality, dysfunctional competition, and a host of other issues that have left people wondering what has happened to the future they were promised. Restarting the Future reveals how these problems arise from a failure to develop the institutions necessary for an economy now reliant on intangible capital – ideas, relationships, brands, and knowledge.

In their revolutionary and bold book, Jonathan Haskell and Stian Westlake argue that the major economic disappointment of the century is the result of an incomplete transition away from an economy based on physical capital. They show how the vital institutions that underpin our economy are still attuned to an outmoded way of doing business. The rate of growth in intangible investment has slowed significantly in recent years, making the world poorer, less fair, and more vulnerable to global threats. Haskell and Westlake offer promising new ideas to help us catch up with the intangible revolution. They present a roadmap for action: how to finance business, develop cities, increase support for science and research, reform monetary policy, and improve intellectual property rules.