From: GERALD LEVY (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Thu Feb 28 2008 - 08:12:07 EST
> While military spinoffs can have a positive effect on productivity and > output I think there can be little doubt that had the military budget > been spent in civilian R&D instead the effects would have direct and > greater. Hi Dave Z: At least insofar as we're talking about capitalist economies, there is indeed room for doubt. Most of the major technological advances of the 2nd half of the 20th Century (including rockets, jets, satellites, atomic power, computers, the Internet, radar, GPS, etc.) were a consequence of military spending. Indeed, to the extent that government spending was key for the development of the computer then it could be fairly claimed that every _other_ technology developed since which includes a microprocessor (and that means just about _all_ new technologies) was an indirect consequence of military spending. Had that money been spent on civilian R&D then other technologies would have indeed developed but there is no way of knowing whether the effects would have been greater. In solidarity, Jerry _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
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