Private industry tends to innovate in different ways from governments, and it has been crowded out of innovation in many areas, in most Western countries, makin

Private industry tends to innovate in different ways from governments, and it has been crowded out of innovation in many areas, in most Western countries, making this comparison difficult. You could look at industries which have low levels of government regulation and intervention, and try to compare them to government-run industries, to find the comparative innovativeness of the industries. This analysis will give you a mixed bag, with some government-related fields having historically high levels of innovation (aerospace), and others having low levels (education and healthcare). The private sector has many innovative sectors (retail, software, semiconductors, IT) and probably some low achieving industries, though none come to mind. Those arguing for the positive role of government in disruptive innovation should also avoid allowing the government to 'take credit' for anything in any field which it has ever been involved in, as the private sector is not given the same deference; (McDonnell built Mercury and Apollo, Grumman made the moon lander, and Rockwell designed the space shuttle; Rocketdyne and P&W designed, tested, and built the engines).