![]() Technology includes the invention of new products, new ways of producing goods and services, and even new ways of managing a company more efficiently. This leads us to the topic of this chapter-technology, positive externalities, public goods, and the role of government in encouraging innovation and the social benefits that it provides.Ĭan you imagine a world in which you did not own a cellular phone or use Wikipedia? New technology changes how people live and work and what they buy. In this way, new knowledge often becomes what economists refer to as a public good. Research in new technologies not only produces private benefits to the investing firm, or in this case to NASA, but it also creates benefits for the broader society. NASA research, for instance, is responsible for the kidney dialysis and mammogram machines that we use today. Still, the technology of today is a spillover product of the incredible feats NASA accomplished forty years ago. At the time of its launch, Voyager had some of the most sophisticated computing processing power NASA could engineer (8,000 instructions per second), but today, we Earthlings use handheld devices that can process 14 billion instructions per second. Voyager I, however, kept going, and going-past Jupiter and Saturn-right out of our solar system. In 1977 the United States launched Voyager I, a spacecraft originally intended to reach Jupiter and Saturn, to send back photographs and other cosmic measurements. To get a sense of how far we have come in a short period of time, let’s compare one of humankind’s greatest achievements to the smartphone most of us have in our coat pocket. ![]() ![]() The research and development efforts of citizens, scientists, firms, universities, and governments have truly revolutionized the modern economy. The rapid growth of technology has increased our ability to access and process data, to navigate through a busy city, and to communicate with friends on the other side of the globe. ![]()
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