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| Authors: | Benn Steil, Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology Richard R. Nelson |
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| Publisher: | A CFR Book. Princeton University Press |
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Release Date: January 2002
476
ISBN 0691090912
$32.50
This seminal volume brings together the research and critical thinking of many of the world’s top macro- and micro-economists to provide a unique, multifaceted perspective on the causes of technological innovation and its relationship to economic performance. Through the use of detailed, up-to-date country and industry studies, this book provides the most authoritative and detailed analysis of this topic ever assembled.
Although technological innovation is widely viewed as the key to economic growth, there is no consensus on what makes some industries and countries more “innovative” than others, or exactly how innovations fuel an economy. The authors, leading economists and political scientists, have compiled evidence from nine countries and nine industries to draw several cautionary lessons for policymakers. For example, while innovation drove a late-1990s U.S. productivity surge in a few key computer-related industries, there is no evidence that this had a transformative effect on the rest of the economy. Conversely, Japan’s extended slump was caused not by a failure to innovate, as many believe, but rather by deep-seated structural and macroeconomic failures.
Information technology accounts for more than one-third of recent U.S. economic growth and nearly two-thirds of corporate capital investment. “The new economy” appears omnipresent, but little is actually known about its workings. This book explores the phenomenon in studies of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the Nordic states. Nine industry studies examine the Internet, computers and semiconductors, banking, securities trading, venture capital, energy, agricultural biotechnology, pharmaceutical biotechnology, and automobiles.
Contributors vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgement xi
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Introduction and Overview by Benn Steil, David G. Victor, and Richard R. Nelson 3
2. Innovation in an Historical Perspective: Tales of Technology and Evolution by Joel Mokyr 23
PART II: COUNTRY STUDIES 47
3. The United States by Robert J. Gordon 49
4. Japan by Adam S. Posen 74
5. Germany by Horst Siebert and Michael Stolpe 112
6. France by Patrick A. Messerlin 148
7. The United Kingdom by Stephen Nickell and John Van Reenen 178
8. The Nordic Countries by Matti Virén and Markku Malkamäki 200
PART III: INDUSTRY STUDIES 227
9. The Internet by David C. Mowery and Timothy Simcoe 229
10. Computers and Semiconductors by Richard N. Langlois 265
11. Banking and Financial Intermediation by Charles W. Calomiris 285
12. Securities Trading by Ian Domowitz and Benn Steil 314
13. Venture Capital by Josh Lerner 327
14. Pharmaceutical Biotechnology by Gary P. Pisano 347
15. Agricultural Biotechnology by Robert E. Evenson 367
16. Electric Power by David G. Victor 385
17. Automobiles by Charles H. Fine and Daniel M.G. Raff 416
Bibliography 433
Author Index 454
Subject Index 459
Read the Ethics and International Affairs review.
Benn Steil is Andre Meyer senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations.
David G. Victor is Robert W. Johnson Jr. senior fellow and director of the science and technology program at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also director of the program on energy and sustainable development at Stanford University.
Richard R. Nelson is George Blumenthal professor of international and public affairs, business, and law at Columbia University.
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