The opposition's closing remarks
Mar 26th 2010 | David Sandalow
Let's talk about Google. Amar Bhidé questions government's role.
Google's founders can speak for themselves. In 1998, Sergey Brin and Larry Page published a paper that begins: "In this paper, we present Google, a prototype of a large-scale search engine…" At page 16, Brin and Page write that their research was "supported by the National Science Foundation", with funding "also provided by DARPA(美国国防部高等研究计划局) and NASA". All three are government agencies. The paper makes for fascinating reading, for reasons related and unrelated to this debate.
Prof. Bhidé invokes Isaac Newton and other great figures from history, asserting that none received government grants. Yes, an apple tree may have been sufficient infrastructure(基础设施) for scientific discovery in the 17th century. Today, a linear accelerator(【核】直线加速) is needed in some fields. Satellites and supercomputers are needed in others. Government funding—beyond the "least" amount possible—makes advances in those fields much more likely.
Furthermore, no one is arguing that all innovation depends on government funding. Knowledge has certainly been created without government support. The motion asks, instead, whether "innovation works best when government does least". The answer is no, because government has unique capabilities and a full toolbox for helping spur the innovative process.
Prof. Bhidé's most interesting argument involves Minitel, the French government-owned monopoly that launched an online service in the early 1980s, before the World Wide Web. Minitel was a success at first, providing French customers with online services unavailable to Americans at the time. Then it floundered in the 1990s, in the face of competition from the internet.
However, Prof. Bhidé draws the wrong lesson from this tale. Minitel was a monopoly. Its story stands mainly for the proposition that monopolies, public or private, do not innovate well. For example AT&T, a private telephone monopoly in the United States, once required its customers to use rotary(旋转的) phones leased from the company. Customers had two options: white or black. (哈哈!Funny!)Then starting in 1968, other companies were allowed to compete in this market. Not only did the types of phones available increase dramatically, but innovative devices such as modems emerged.
And who has an important role in breaking up monopolies, thereby unleashing innovation? The government.(好例子!) Let us hope the government doesn't do the "least" when it comes to trust-busting(打破托拉斯).
The economic case for innovation is overwhelming. Innovation plays a central role in productivity growth and wealth creation. How can government best promote it?
First, by protecting property rights. Intellectual property protection and a stable legal system are the bedrock(岩床) on which much innovation rests. If we were committed to government doing only the "least", we would stop here.
But government can do much more. How else can government help?
Second, by investing in education. An educated citizenry is the fertile soil from which innovation grows. As Prof. Bhidé correctly argued in his opening statement, this means training young people not just in math, but also in how to think independently and work collaboratively. Providing this education is a classic government function, one for which there are outsized benefits from government spending.
Third, by investing in basic research. For many research tasks, the payout(支出;花费) is too long, benefits too dispersed and the scale too large for the private sector. When government steps in, returns can be huge. In the 1980s, for example, the US Department of Energy supported research into recovering natural gas from shale formations(页岩层). Few companies were interested. But that research led to innovations that are now transforming the natural gas sector in the United States and around the world. (例子)
Fourth, by ensuring that social returns are reflected in investment decisions. Public companies have fiduciary responsibilities(信托责任) to their shareholders. In most cases their primary mission is not to clean the air, prevent climate disruption or pursue other public objectives. Governments have a responsibility to promote the public interest, steering capital toward innovations with high social returns.
Fifth, by protecting public safety, giving consumers the confidence to try innovative products. We expect our vehicles, food and pharmaceuticals to be safe and criticise government regulators if they fail to detect problems. This standard-setting role not only protects the public, it promotes innovation by giving consumers confidence in innovative products.
Sixth, by providing consumers with reliable information.
Seventh, by purchasing output from innovators, helping innovative products scale.
Eighth, by building infrastructure on which innovators depend (such as interstate highways and electric transmission grids). The list goes on.
Will government sometimes make mistakes? Of course. So does the private sector. Innovation is about taking risks. There may be times when government should do less, but there will never be a time when it should do the "least". Government has unique and powerful abilities to promote innovation. We should recognise and embrace them.
It has been almost 45 years since Bob Taylor first convinced his bosses at DARPA, a government agency, to invest in a new idea for computer communications. That led to the internet and, eventually, to The Economist online. It led to the clever managers of this site combining a classic debate format with 21st-century technologies and, in turn, to our discussion today. Many thanks to The Economist, to Prof. Bhidé and especially to all of you reading this dialogue.
词汇:
infrastructure(基础设施)
floundered
payout(支出;花费)
rotary(旋转的)
bedrock(岩床)
on which much innovation rests.
fiduciary responsibilities(信托责任)
专有名词:
DARPA(美国国防部高等研究计划局)
makes for fascinating reading
linear accelerator(【核】直线加速)
trust-busting(打破托拉斯)
shale formations(页岩层)
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