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As far as outsourcing stories go, I find this one to have a very nice silver lining for developed countries. R&D is not factory floor oppressive work for peopl

As far as outsourcing stories go, I find this one to have a very nice silver lining for developed countries. R&D is not factory floor oppressive work for people who have no options and often little political power. It is the domain of the intelligent; people with options who are more fully aware of what their options are. IOW, a true middle class. The more the thinking class grows the better all of us are. R&D is not a zero sum game like manufacturing. With manufacturing there is only so much demand for the manufactured goods; only so much material with which to make the goods etc. With R&D the only limiting factor that comes to mind is the size of R&D budgets. It is relatively easy to increase the size of that pie if R&D brings results. This class of people will be in a better place to act on opportunity as well compared to the low payed laborers whether it be to move to more developed countries once they have some valuable experience or to take their ideas and experience and create enterprises on their own or to simply demand higher compensation with these other options in mind. I'd bet they'd also have more political clout as well. In short, more R&D in these countries will accelerate parity with their counterparts in more developed countries and might even pull their labor class with them.

varjag 16y ago
> R&D is not a zero sum game like manufacturing. With manufacturing there is only so much demand for the manufactured goods; only so much material with which to make the goods etc. The material wasn't really a problem in most industries since early 1950s. The demand is also permanently growing, with population levels increasing, wealth being created etc. R&D however always follows manufacturing, it's just the nature of their relationship. It can not last long in ivory tower, no matter what politicians tell.
- clavalle 16y ago
  "the demand is also permanently growing" I'd argue that nothing is 'permanently growing' but I get your point. That increase in demand, however, is not pulled out of thin air, it is deeply tied to a limited phenomena -- it is far more inelastic. "R&D however always follows manufacturing, it's just the nature of their relationship" This is true but R&D leads to whole new markets with explosive growth as opposed to commodity plateaus and slower incremental growth based on population or other rate limited market phenomena.
uygtfrgtyjuhk 16y ago
Note that there is R&D and 'corporate R&D' These aren't necessarily research positions, they are often just offshored software development work and even tech support call centers. Anything that isn't billed per widget is often counted as R&D - especially when it comes to tax breaks!

varjag 16y ago

> R&D is not a zero sum game like manufacturing. With manufacturing there is only so much demand for the manufactured goods; only so much material with which to make the goods etc. The material wasn't really a problem in most industries since early 1950s. The demand is also permanently growing, with population levels increasing, wealth being created etc. R&D however always follows manufacturing, it's just the nature of their relationship. It can not last long in ivory tower, no matter what politicians tell.

clavalle 16y ago
"the demand is also permanently growing" I'd argue that nothing is 'permanently growing' but I get your point. That increase in demand, however, is not pulled out of thin air, it is deeply tied to a limited phenomena -- it is far more inelastic. "R&D however always follows manufacturing, it's just the nature of their relationship" This is true but R&D leads to whole new markets with explosive growth as opposed to commodity plateaus and slower incremental growth based on population or other rate limited market phenomena.

uygtfrgtyjuhk 16y ago

Note that there is R&D and 'corporate R&D' These aren't necessarily research positions, they are often just offshored software development work and even tech support call centers. Anything that isn't billed per widget is often counted as R&D - especially when it comes to tax breaks!