Mark Zachary Taylor
Associate Professor, Co-Director of GTDC Program
- School of Public Policy
- Development Studies Program
Overview
Dr. Mark Zachary Taylor, formerly a solid-state physicist, now specializes in S&T politics and policy, political economy, the American presidency, and comparative politics. In his research, he tries to understand the sources of national economic competitiveness. In his book, The Politics of Innovation (Oxford Univ. Press, 2016), he seeks to explain why some countries are better than others at science and technology. He currently studies the role of the US presidency in short-run economic performance. Prof. Taylor’s research has also been published in the journals Foreign Affairs, International Organization, Security Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Review of Policy Research, Harvard International Review, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Political Science Education. Dr. Taylor holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT, an MA in International Relations from Yale University, earned a BA in Physics from UC Berkeley, and has attended university in Japan.
- BA Physics, UC Berkeley
- MA International Relations, Yale
- PhD Political Science, MIT
Distinctions:
- Winner, 2024 IAC Distinguished Teaching Award
- Winner, 2024 CETL Innovation in Co-Curricular Education Award
Interests
- Globalization: Political Economy and Governance
- History of Technology/Engineering and Society
- Macroeconomics
- Science and Technology Studies
- Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
- Science, Technology, and International Policy
- U.S. Society and Politics/Policy Perspectives
Focuses:
- United States
- Diffusion of Technology
- Foreign Policy
- Free Market Economics
- Innovation
- International Trade and Investment
- National Strategy
- Perspectives on technology
- Political Economy
- Politics
- Science and Technology
- Technology
- Technology and Innovation
Courses
- INTA-1200: American Government
- INTA-3110: U.S. Foreign Policy
- INTA-3301: Int'l Political Econ
- INTA-4740: Sem-Political Economy
- INTA-6003: Empirical Research Meth
- INTA-6306: Globalization
- INTA-8000: Sci,Tech&Int'l Affairs I
- INTA-8010: IAST Ph.D. Proseminar
- POL-1101: Government of the U.S.
- PUBP-2695: GT@DC (GAH) Internship
- PUBP-3020: Applied Political Econ
- PUBP-3030: Policy Analysis
- PUBP-3520: Globalization & Policy
- PUBP-4695: GT@DC (GAH) Internship
- PUBP-8530: Adv Science& Tech Policy
- PUBP-8823: Special Topics
Publications
Selected Publications
Books
- The Politics of Innovation: Why Some Countries Are Better Than Others at Science & Technology
Date: 2016
Why are some countries better than others at science and technology? Written in accessible language, The Politics of Innovation provides readers from all backgrounds with a useful survey of the innovation debate. It brings together the current political and economic wisdom, and latest findings, about how and why nations become S&T leaders.
This book directly challenges the “institutions rule!” thesis widely held by social scientists, policymakers, and the general public. This is the belief that national policies and institutions determine economic outcomes. In response, this book fires a powerful broadside of evidence and analysis directly into the heart of recent best-sellers such as “Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu & Robinson (Crown 2012) and venerated classics such as “Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance” by Douglas North (Cambridge 1990). It also offers a new theory which rightly identifies institutions and policies as tools, not causal forces. Rather, politics are the driving force which determines how the tools of institutions and policies will be used. Also, these politics involve both domestic and international concerns. Therefore national success at S&T is not just a domestic story, it is also an international one.
All Publications
Books
- Presidential Leadership in Feeble Times
Date: 2024
Do presidents matter for America’s economic performance? We tend to stereotype Gilded Age presidents as weak. We also assume that the American people did not understand how the economy worked or the government’s role in it. And we generally dismiss the Gilded Age macro-economy as boring—little interesting or important happened. Instead, the micro-economics of the business world was where the action was at. More broadly, many economists and political scientists believe that individual presidents simply do not matter much, even in the 21st century. Institutional constraints and historical circumstance dictate success or failure; the White House is just along for the ride.
This book shows that all of this is mistaken! It tells the story of three decades of Gilded Age economic upheaval with a focus on presidential leadership—why did some presidents crash and burn, while others prospered? It explains how differences in presidential vision and leadership style can have dramatic consequences. It shows that, even in this unlikely period, presidents powerfully affected national economic performance and that their success came from surprising sources, with important lessons for us today.
- The Politics of Innovation: Why Some Countries Are Better Than Others at Science & Technology
Date: 2016
Why are some countries better than others at science and technology? Written in accessible language, The Politics of Innovation provides readers from all backgrounds with a useful survey of the innovation debate. It brings together the current political and economic wisdom, and latest findings, about how and why nations become S&T leaders.
This book directly challenges the “institutions rule!” thesis widely held by social scientists, policymakers, and the general public. This is the belief that national policies and institutions determine economic outcomes. In response, this book fires a powerful broadside of evidence and analysis directly into the heart of recent best-sellers such as “Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu & Robinson (Crown 2012) and venerated classics such as “Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance” by Douglas North (Cambridge 1990). It also offers a new theory which rightly identifies institutions and policies as tools, not causal forces. Rather, politics are the driving force which determines how the tools of institutions and policies will be used. Also, these politics involve both domestic and international concerns. Therefore national success at S&T is not just a domestic story, it is also an international one.
Journal Articles
- The Economic Drivers of Political Time
In: Presidential Studies Quarterly [Peer Reviewed]
Date: March 2023
- Ideas and their Consequences: Benjamin Harrison and the Seeds of Economic Crisis, 1889-1893
In: Critical Review [Peer Reviewed]
Date: March 2021
- The Historical Presidency: The Gilded Age Presidents and the Economy
In: Presidential Studies Quarterly [Peer Reviewed]
Date: December 2020
- Innovation and Alliances
In: Review of Policy Research [Peer Reviewed]
Date: September 2017
- An Economic Ranking of the US Presidents, 1789-2009: A Data-Based Approach
In: PS-POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICS [Peer Reviewed]
Date: October 2012
- Does culture still matter?: The effects of individualism on national innovation rates
In: JOURNAL OF BUSINESS VENTURING [Peer Reviewed]
Date: March 2012
- Toward an International Relations Theory of National Innovation Rates
In: SECURITY STUDIES [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2012
- Intellectual Property Protection and US Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies
In: JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS [Peer Reviewed]
Date: November 2010
- Federalism and Technological Change in Blood Products
In: JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLITICS POLICY AND LAW [Peer Reviewed]
Date: December 2009
- Podcast Lectures as a Primary Teaching Technology: Results of a One-Year Trial
In: Journal of Political Science Education [Peer Reviewed]
Date: April 2009
- Why Women Leave Science: Fixing the Leaky Pipeline has become a Matter of National Competitiveness
In: Technology Review
Date: January 2009
- Conclusion: International Political Economy - The Reverse Salient of Innovation Theory
In: REVIEW OF POLICY RESEARCH
Date: 2009
- International Linkages and National Innovation Rates: An Exploratory Probe
In: REVIEW OF POLICY RESEARCH [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2009
- Economic security: Expanding women's participation in US science
In: Harvard International Review
Date: September 2008
- Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
In: REVIEW OF POLICY RESEARCH
Date: 2008
- Political decentralization and technological innovation: Testing the innovative advantages of decentralized states
In: Review of Policy Research [Peer Reviewed]
Date: May 2007
Are politically decentralized states better at fostering long-run technological innovation than centralized states? Societies with decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, have come to be viewed as rigid and thus hostile to the risks, costs, and change associated with new technology, or prone to cling too long to foolhardy or outdated technological projects. Therefore government decentralization is often perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for encouraging long-run technological innovation. However, in this article, I analyze data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high-technology exports, and show that there exists little evidence for an aggregate relationship between government structure and technological innovation. © 2007 by The Policy Studies Organization. - Empirical Evidence Against Varieties of Capitalism’s Theory of Technological Innovation
In: International Organizations Law Review [Peer Reviewed]
Date: July 2004
- Dominance Through Technology
In: Foreign affairs (Council on Foreign Relations)
Date: December 1995
Chapters
- Patents and Politics
In: Science and Politics: A Guide to Issues and Controversies
Date: 2014
- “Political Science and Science Policy Theory”
Date: 2011
- “The Political Economy of National Leadership in Science and Technology”
Date: 2011
- “Introduction to Bivariate & Multivariate Regressions
Date: 2010
- “Empirical Evidence Against Varieties of Capitalism’s Theory of Technological Innovation
Date: 2009
- “Political Economy of Technological Innovation: A Shift in Focus of the Debate”
Date: 2009
- “Broadband Enabled Innovation”