[jayasena]

I think you're mixing up cause and effect, comnambule. Why would companies spend a lot of money on long-term research when they can socialize the cost onto taxpayers? Professional sports teams do the same thing with stadiums, arguing that they "can't" pay for their own ballparks -- even though until the 1960s, they mostly did -- when all they really mean is, they don't want to and have figured out that local governments will pick up the tab if asked to do so.

Garvin, I'd agree with you in a (perfect?) world where corporations acted to maximize long-term success. But we all know that's not the case -- investors today (and it appears, especially US investors) reward short-term results over all else and executive compensation is heavily geared towards delivering that. So I'm not really sure corporate behavior would change all that much if there was no government support for long-term research.

Clever misspelling of my handle, BTW  :)

[jayasena]

I think you're mixing up cause and effect, comnambule. Why would companies spend a lot of money on long-term research when they can socialize the cost onto taxpayers? Professional sports teams do the same thing with stadiums, arguing that they "can't" pay for their own ballparks -- even though until the 1960s, they mostly did -- when all they really mean is, they don't want to and have figured out that local governments will pick up the tab if asked to do so.

Garvin, I'd agree with you in a (perfect?) world where corporations acted to maximize long-term success. But we all know that's not the case -- investors today (and it appears, especially US investors) reward short-term results over all else and executive compensation is heavily geared towards delivering that. So I'm not really sure corporate behavior would change all that much if there was no government support for long-term research.

Clever misspelling of my handle, BTW  :)