No, but the government can shoulder a larger risk than what the private sector may tolerate. There's all kinds of examples, but aerospace is a classic one. The

No, but the government can shoulder a larger risk than what the private sector may tolerate. There's all kinds of examples, but aerospace is a classic one. There would be no airline industry or commercial space industry if the government wasn't willing to bear a disproportionate amount of the risk when these industries were nascent. There just wasn't enough market demand to incentivize the private sector to do so on their own. So the govt sets up an incentive structure that brings the risk to a level where the private sector is willing to partake. The government is also generally more tolerant of longer-term scenarios than the private sector.