Political economy of science and technology

As we move towards the close of the twentieth century, the impact of science and technology on all aspects of our lives is becoming more pervasive. This book has two broad objectives. It seeks, first, to define in language comprehensible to the non-specialist the nature of science and technology policy. Second, it shows how economics can inform its analysis, but only up to a certain extent as the subject is essentially interdisciplinary.

Chapter 1 is intended to define the field itself and to preface the book's contents. Chapter 2 provides some contextual background by describing briefly the historic role of technological changes in the evolution of the modern economy, and by showing how the social role of science and technology is a function of the nature of the economic system in question. Chapters 3 and 4 cover a range of conceptual developments in microeconomics and macroeconomics. Chapter 5 explores the extent to which the history of economic ideas engages with science and finally Chapter 6 reviews modern innovation and R/D theory. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the role of science and technology in the Third World, and finally, Chapter 9 focusses on a sample of the issues of contemporary importance such as technological unemployment, the control of complex technology and policies toward basic science.

This textbook for students of the natural sciences and applied sciences will also be of value to those studying the social sciences, particularly those reading economics, social studies of science or business studies. It will also be of great interest to those in industry, government and research whose work involves the disposition and evaluation of resources devoted to science and technology.