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Government support of technical progress: Lessons from history

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  • Richard R. Nelson

Abstract

In the past, the U.S. government has been involved in various programs to support technical progress. The record of such programs in seven industries offers important guidelines. The economist's usual presumption that government support for such activities should be concentrated on those cases in which there is palpable market failure proves much too simple. Programs that stand the best chance of success are those in which the government itself is a dominant customer for the product concerned, those that do not require the government to determine what the commercial market wants, and those that do not directly threaten the relative position of competing firms in the industry. Some of the most successful programs have been positioned between basic research on the one hand and commercial application on the other.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard R. Nelson, 1982. "Government support of technical progress: Lessons from history," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 2(4), pages 499-514.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:2:y:1982:i:4:p:499-514
    DOI: 10.2307/3323569
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    Cited by:

    1. Alain Alcouffe & Saloua Bennaghmouch & Marie-Pierre Bes & Jamal Bouoiyour & Mohamed Youcef Hadj Ali & Béchir Labidi & Mohamed Wague, 1994. "La Recherche Développement dans l'Union du Maghreb Arabe Essai d'analyse des systèmes nationaux d'innovation dans les zones d'intégration," Working Papers hal-02105938, HAL.
    2. Irwin Feller, 1992. "American state governments as models for national science policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 288-309.
    3. Giovanni Dosi & Xiaodan Yu, 2018. "Capabilities Accumulation and Development: What History Tells the Theory," LEM Papers Series 2018/27, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Gianluca Pallante & Emanuele Russo & Andrea Roventini, 2020. "Does mission-oriented funding stimulate private R&D? Evidence from military R&D for US states," Working Papers hal-04097530, HAL.
    5. Edler, Jakob & Georghiou, Luke, 2007. "Public procurement and innovation--Resurrecting the demand side," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 949-963, September.
    6. Albert N. Link & John T. Scott, 2013. "Bending the Arc of Innovation: Public Support of R&D in Small, Entrepreneurial Firms," Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-37088-4, December.
    7. Thirtle, Colin G. & Piesse, Jenifer & Smith, Vincent H., 1997. "An economic approach to the structure, historical development and reform of agricultural R&D in the UK," Centre for Agricultural Strategy - Papers and Reports 337539, University of Reading.
    8. Magdalena Olczyk, 2016. "International Competitiveness in the Economics Literature: A Bibliometric Study," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 2(4), pages 375-388, October.
    9. Mario Cimoli & Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson & Joseph Stiglitz, 2007. "Policies and Institutional Engineering in Developing Economies," Globelics Working Paper Series 2007-04, Globelics - Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems, Aalborg University, Department of Business and Management.
    10. Nunzia Carbonara & Roberta Pellegrino, 2020. "The role of public private partnerships in fostering innovation," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 140-156, February.
    11. Thirtle, Colin & Palladino, Paolo & Piesse, Jenifer, 1997. "On the organisation of agricultural research in the United Kingdom, 1945-1994: A quantitative description and appraisal of recent reforms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 557-576, December.
    12. Gianluca Pallante & Emanuele Russo & Andrea Roventini, 2020. "Does public R&D funding crowd-in private R&D investment? Evidence from military R&D expenditures for US states," LEM Papers Series 2020/32, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

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