Technology, R&D, and Efficiency - McGraw-Hill Higher Education

11W-20
PART TWO
Microeconomics of Product Markets
10. Do you think the overall level of R&D would increase or
decrease over the next 20 to 30 years if the lengths of new
patents were extended from 20 years to, say, “forever”
What if the duration were reduced from 20 years to, say, 3
years LO4
11. Make a case that neither pure competition nor pure monopoly
is conducive to a great deal of R&D spending and innovation.
Why might oligopoly be more favorable to R&D spending
and innovation than either pure competition or pure
monopoly What is the inverted-U theory of R&D, and how
does it relate to your answers to these questions LO5
12. Evaluate: “Society does not need laws outlawing monopolization
and monopoly. Inevitably, monopoly causes its own
self-destruction since its high profit is the lure for other firms
or entrepreneurs to develop substitute products.” LO6
13. LAST WORD Identify a specific example of each of the following
in this chapter’s Last Word: (a) entrepreneurship,
(b) invention, (c) innovation, and (d) diffusion.
Web-Based Questions
1. THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION R&D
STATISTICS—WHAT’S HAPPENING Go to the
Division of Science Resource Statistics Web site,
www.nsf.gov/statistics/natlpatterns , to find National
Patterns of R&D. Select the most recent update year. Then
select Full Publication. Use the historical data tables to determine
whether the following R&D numbers increased,
remained constant, or decreased over the last 5 years listed:
( a ) Total U.S. R&D expenditures in constant dollars,
( b ) Federal support for R&D in constant dollars, ( c ) R&D
as a percentage of U.S. GDP, and ( d ) Federal support of
R&D as a percentage of GDP. What are the technological
implications of these figures for the United States
2. NASA—ARE THERE COMMERCIAL SPIN-OFFS Visit
the Web site of NASA’s Technology Transfer Office, at
www.sti.nasa.gov/tto , to identify significant commercial
benefits from secondary use of NASA technology.
Search the database to find and describe five such spin-offs.
How does the NASA Commercial Technology Network,
nctn.hq.nasa.gov, move technology from the lab to the
marketplace
FURTHER TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE AT
www.mcconnell18e.com