In the 1980s, a belief was promulgated that governments should deploy public policy to create national venture capital ("VC") markets if they were not naturally occurring. This is due to the VC industry's role in driving innovation, employment and economic growth by financing and providing operational expertise to start‐ups. The widespread acceptance of this norm, coupled with the spectacular returns produced by American VCs through the 1980s, drove the creation of public VC policies in over

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... nty countries, particularly those states competing in the global technology market. The resultant public VC policies are a form of industrial policy that is specifically focused on creating a VC industry, and consists of tax treatment, legal structures, and government funding.