Impact of Science and Technology on Regional Economic Development An Assessment of National Policies Regarding Research and Development in the Context of Regional Economic Development (1969) / Chapter Skim
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Major Objectives of Federal Policies for Research, Development, and Regional Economic Growth
Major Objectives of Federal Policies for Research, Development, and Regional Economic Growth
Pages 11-19
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From page 11... ...
The application of the fruits of scientific research and technological innovation has given us the capacity to release men -- not the elite few, but the broad masses of men -- from the relentless pursuit of subsistence. Soon two thirds of our work force will be engaged not in producing goods, or food, or fiber, but in providing services in such fields as education, health, finance, government, sales, and recreation.
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From page 12... ...
Hornig, then Science Adviser to the President, specified the principal federal goals in supporting science in academic institutions: I assume we can agree that we are pursuing several interrelated goals in our federal support of science in the universities. We wish to ensure that our nation either leads or is at the forefront of research in the most important fields of science; We would like to make available to all young people, wherever they live and whatever their economic level, the possibility of education of the highest quality; We wish to develop strong intellectual centers in all parts of our country that can provide the focus and the manpower for modern technological development.
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From page 13... ...
Included in this second category are R&D efforts aimed at improvements in agriculture, in water resources, and in the physical environment; other examples are R&D directed toward regional economic development or the rebuilding of cities. Although these programs represent a broad national commitment, they share in common a strong local ingredient; i.e., they are characterized by the need to specify in regional terms both the nature of the problems to be solved and the nature of the approach to the solution.
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From page 14... ...
The Committee furthermore believes, however, that we can not and should not "remedy" regional technical disparities by imposing on programs whose primary concerns are our central national goals some arbitrary distribution formula for R&D funds based solely on population or geography. To do so would be to ask that these vital national programs be carried out under criteria that would permit inefficient use of the resources applied to their urgent objectives.
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From page 15... ...
Federal support is needed to implement programs aimed toward a wide variety of central and distributed R&D objectives. The need for support of central national goals has been recognized by the nation at large, and, in general, suitable mechanisms have been devised to implement them.
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From page 16... ...
These costs would eventually be felt by every consumer and taxpayer, as well as in the ability of American products to compete in world markets. This Committee believes that the objective of "balanced development" as set forth in the Economic Development and Public Works Act of 1965 can never be attained if it is construed to mean a homogeneous distribution of economic activities among the regions of the country.
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From page 17... ...
It is much easier to embody innovation in capital investments when these investments have to be made anyway, to meet a rising demand, than to replace obsolete equipment. This is part of the "chicken and egg" question dealt with in the work of Schmookler14 and others, i.e., the question of whether demand leads to technological innovation or technological innovation leads to demand.
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From page 18... ...
The Committee believes that sound national policies for regional development require that those designated regions that do not include metropolitan centers be re-defined in order to make a sound approach to development possible. The Committee recognizes that, while certain broad national objectives for regional development may now be formulated, these have not as yet been crystallized as stated national policies for regional economic development, either in terms of a regional geographic pattern for the nation as a whole or in terms of specified national priorities.
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From page 19... ...
In the final analysis, regional economic development is an issue when the community leaders and/or the political leaders in a given region define it to be an issue. In making this decision, they have taken a first essential step toward alleviating existing regional problems or toward anticipating the solution of future problems.
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