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The disproportionate share of paradigm-shift innovation coming directly or indirectly from the government is a testament to that fact.
by keenmaster 6y ago
The disproportionate share of paradigm-shift innovation coming directly or indirectly from the government is a testament to that fact.
- nradov 6y agoWhich paradigm-shifting innovations are you counting there and what was the ROI on the programs which produced those innovations? Why would it be better to have corporations doing that R&D instead of government?
- czzr 6y agoBasic research is a public good, and corporations will not provide enough of it.
- notahacker 6y agoThere's a simple explanation for that though: the government has more money, and socialises the profits. At one point the US government was spending 4% of GDP on NASA. Not everything NASA did was possible to commercialise, but entire industries from satellite communications and air purifiers to baby formula and memory foam were created based on solving difficult problems for spacemen. All of these now mass market industries pay tax on their US operations. Even if a corporation could spend that sort of money on a space program it couldn't hope to collect a return from every industry that grew up out of that space program.