The Positive Sum Strategy

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 183 require a fundamental transformation in some central behavioral fea­ tures of the Soviet system. A tremendous variety of systemic fea­ tures, involving the degree of freedom, incentives, and pressures influencing enterprises, discourage innovation. Until the system is re­ formed in a fairly radical way, the incentives for innovation will re­ main weak, the disincentives strong. One chapter characterizes the changes introduced under Andropov and Chernenko as hesitant, ex­ perimental, and insubstantial. The burning question is whether under Gorbachev the process of institutional adaptation can be accel­ erated enough to bring the intensive strategy to life. Robert Campbell Dr. Campbell teaches in the Department of Economics at Indiana University. The Positive Sum Strategy: Harnessing TechnologyforEconomic Growth. Ed­ ited by Ralph Landau and Nathan Rosenberg. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1986. Pp. xiv+640; figures, tables, notes, references, index. $35.00 (North America); $42.00 (ex­ port). Technology is the key to economic growth, and when it is effi­ ciently “harnessed,” society will be better off. Thus, a “positive sum” strategy can and should be pursued. The importance of this issue is highlighted by the fact that productivity growth in the United States and in other industrialized nations declined sharply in the 1960s and 1970s and is still waning. How should a positive sum strategy be pursued? Insights into the answer to this question are contained in The Positive Sum Strategy. Edi­ tors Ralph Landau (National Academy of Engineering) and Nathan Rosenberg (Stanford University) have collected the learned views of forty-three of today’s policy, corporate, and academic leaders. Al­ though much of the material is descriptive (the determinants of the productivity growth slowdown, a critique of macroeconomic policies designed to improve technological growth, an overview of the eco­ nomic environment that affects and directs innovative activity), there is also a prescriptive element. It is, simply stated, to relax gov­ ernment constraints in the economy and to encourage more R&D spending. In other words, a better economic climate will help to cata­ lyze the R&D technology —> growth reaction. And to better understand how to create this environment, authors Ann Friedlanender and Keith Pavitt call for a more disaggregated under­ standing of the related chains of events. In fact, the editors also note that “[f]rom a better understanding of the microeconomics of technological change we should be able to erect a more sensible mac­ roeconomics” (p. 15). The papers collected in this volume are carefully crafted, written with an understanding of the productivity-based dilemma now fac­ 184 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE ing our economy, and with sympathy toward the vagaries of putting into operation a technology-based growth strategy. The editors are to be commended for establishing a readable tone throughout. The Positive Sum Strategy will appeal to a wide audience ranging from R&D managers to public policymakers. It will also become a stan­ dard reference for academic researchers in this area. However, I was looking for a bit more insight into vertical influ­ ences on the horizontal R&D technology —> growth formula. How does public policy affect the R&D —> technology relation­ ship? What is the role of government-financed R&D and governmentsponsored infratechnology (meaning neutral technologies such as measurement and test methods that support an industry’s R&D, mar­ keting, and production) on this relationship? Are these public invest­ ments efficiently made and are the outputs efficiently used? Is infratechnology readily available to industry? Do these two policy “variables” enter into the formula in horizontal fashion, or do they enter vertically, leveraging private-sector R&D? Why does technol­ ogy influence economic growth? Should policy be directed more to­ ward encouraging the adoption and diffusion of technology (“har­ nessing” it for use) rather than toward its creation via R&D? Should the R&D technology —» growth reaction time be decreased in light of growing global competition? If so, how? Is cooperative R&D an answer? Authors Paul David, Donald Kennedy, Edwin Mans­ field, and William Perry are among the few who address these is­ sues. Admittedly difficult questions to answer, these are, in my opin­ ion, the critical issues for future thought. I hope in the near future we will have the privilege of reading a companion volume to The Posi­ tive Sum Strategy, perhaps entitled Toward a

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