Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Research funding: Research funding is money provided to support scientific, technical, or social research. This funding can come from various sources, including government agencies, corporations, foundations, and private individuals. The primary purpose is to finance the costs associated with conducting research, such as salaries for researchers, equipment, and materials. See also Technology, Progress, Subsidies._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Murray N. Rothbard on Research Funding - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard III 751 Research Funding/Rothbard: Many advocates of patents believe that the ordinary competitive conditions of the market do not sufficiently encourage the adoption of new processes and that therefore innovations must be coercively promoted by the government. But the market decides on the rate of introduction of new processes just as it decides on the rate of industrialization of a new geographic area. In fact, this argument for patents is very similar to the infant-industry argument for tariffs - that market processes are not suffcient to permit the introduction of worthwhile new processes. And the answer to both these arguments is the same: that People must balance the superior productivity of the new processes against the cost of installing them, i.e., against the advantage possessed by theoOld process in being already built and in existence. Coercively privileging innovation would needlessly scrap valuable plants already in existence and impose an excessive burden upon consumers. For consumers' desires would not be satisfied in the most economic manner. Patents/Rothbard: It is by no means self-evident that patents encourage an increased absolute quantity of research expenditures. Rothbard III 752 But certainly patents distort the type of research expenditure being conducted. For while it is true that the first discoverer benefits from the privilege, it is also true that his competitors are excluded from production in the area of the patent for many years. And since one patent can build upon a related one in the same field, competitors can often be indefinitely discouraged fromfurther research expenditures in the general area covered by the patent. Moreover, the patentee is himself discouraged from engaging in further research in this field (…). Rothbard III 753 Market/VsResearch funding: (…) of course, the market itself provides an easy and effective course for those who feel that there are not enough expenditures being made in certain directions. They can make these expenditures themselves. Those who would like to see more inventions made and exploited, therefore, are at liberty to join together and subsidize such effort in any way they think best. In that way, they would, as consumers, add resources to the research and invention business. And they would not then be forcing other consumers to lose utility by conferring monopoly grants and distorting the market's allocations. Their voluntary expenditures would become part of the market and express ultimate consumer valuations. Furthermore, later inventors would not be restricted. The friends of invention could accomplish their aim without calling in the State and imposing losses on a large number of people. >Patents/Rothbard, >Copyright/Rothbard, >Inventions/Rothbard._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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