Technology and U.S. Competitiveness: An Institutional Focus (Contributions in Economics and Economic History)

Technology and U.S. global competitiveness is a major concern today, and yet there is no study that surveys the key issues describing federal and state policies in the United States. What new technologies are likely to increase our national productivity and international competitiveness in the future? Editors Lambright and Rahm have gathered together a group of experts to provide varying perspectives and recommendations for students, scholars, experts, and policymakers to consider.

The edited collection describes federal and state programs, institutions, and changing policy issues given the new world order of technology and competitiveness. Part I analyzes federal competitiveness policy, the decontrolling of technology transfer, the role of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the emerging role of the Department of Defense in Technology Transfer. Part II covers turbulent state programs in the 1990s, state space technology programs, and basic research and development. Part III deals with recent theoretical and organizational approaches to U.S. technology policy, changing international relations and U.S.-Japanese competitiveness, and corporate culture in small high tech firms.

W. HENRY LAMBRIGHT is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and Director of the Science and Technology Policy Center at Syracuse Research Corporation. He is the author of Presidential Management of Science and Technology: The Johnson Presidency (1985), Technology Transfer to Cities (1979), among other titles dealing with technological development and public policy.

DIANNE RAHM is an Assistant Professor, Department of Government and International Affairs, University of South Florida. She has written at some length on U.S. technological issues, contributing to books, professional journals, and government studies.