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This foreword provides an overview of demographic development during the past three centuries, as life expectancy and per-capita growth of GDP have increased dramatically. Due to the intense interplay between physiological improvement and technological advances, humans have increased their body size by more than 50% in the past two centuries, and the betterment of general sanitation, reduction of air pollution in the cities, and higher food intake have improved life expectancy. It is argued that demographers have consistently underestimated the impact of such improvements and, consequently, have underestimated gains in life expectancy. With more workers living longer and healthier lives, men in Western countries have four times more leisure than they did a century ago, and this trend will continue. This achievement has devastating financial implications for already overburdened social security systems and calls for a careful re-examination of social security to ensure future sustainability.

Approaches the firm from the perspective of its critical role in contributing to overall economic growth, addressing the broad question of technological advance and how it comes about. The ‘technological residual’ in economists’ growth models has traditionally been treated as exogenous and has only recently come to be incorporated as endogenous, as a function of firms’ investment in research and development; the authors elaborate on this theme by focusing on the neglected role of science in technological advance and on the inherent uncertainty associated with such advance, and back their case with examples. The important contribution of private firms that invest in creating new or improved technology and appropriate the benefits thereof is given its due, but it is also noted that applied science (typically performed at universities) and research and development carried out by firms feed off each other; this interdependence stems from externalities, but also from less obvious linkages, such as private laboratories providing a labour market for university‐trained researchers, and applied university research rapidly responding to the need for scientific explanations of technological advances made by private firms. The fundamental uncertainty often associated with technological breakthroughs further complicates this picture, although the authors argue that there is commonly true surprise involved in the discovery of new technology, and in addition, make the point that in fact ‘old’ science often lies behind these breakthroughs. Finally, it is noted that incorporating the interdependence of public and private R&D, and the uncertainty of technological advance, into mainstream formal growth models may be difficult, however realistic it is.

This chapter focuses on how the workplace is being transformed through technological change. It argues that a critical function the managerial supervisor must perform is to humanize technology. This means that she or he has the responsibility to work with others to make technological advances work for them. The chapter begins by defining technology and providing an overview of the ways in which technology is changing the work lives of persons in health and human service organizations. It identifies basic questions to ask in assessing one's technological needs. It then focuses on the implications of new technologies for organizational practice in human services, followed by an examination of the problems encountered by supervisory managers as they deal with technological issues.

This chapter examines the tensions that are at work in determining what the law should be in relation to weapons and how that law has developed. The importance of technology as a factor in securing battlefield advantage, the humanitarian dividends that can be secured as a result of technological advance, the way in which technology can inform developments in the law, and the circumstances in which technological development may stimulate the perception that new law is required are all discussed. A word of caution is sounded when technological development is seen as the basis for re-visiting established treaty provision, and the position that can arise when established humanitarian concern does not lead to the adoption of a weapons treaty is assessed. All of these factors are then drawn together and tentative conclusions are drawn.

This chapter discusses the evolution of the financial services industry in order to determine future opportunities and challenges. In the past, because of deregulation, technological advances, and globalization, many different types of financial services firms, following different business strategies, have converged into the capital markets arena. This has greatly increased competition, to the benefit of market users, but it has also greatly increased the risks associated with being a major wholesale banking firm. The coming years will represent great challenges to most of the world's large financial service organizations, as they continue to compete for market share in a tougher regulatory environment and to recover their higher market valuations. These firms will have to rethink their basic business strategies and attempt to reposition themselves to maximize their comparative advantages, but also need to be able to control the formidable risks inherent in the strategies selected.

Through dynamic programming, the Bellman equation could be set up from a simple optimal growth model that is subject to a constraint function which involves variables that denote consumption, capital stock, and random shocks. From such, the value function may be identified and solved. Because the Lagrange multiplier method does not require the value function, this seems to be an easier alternative to using dynamic programming. In this chapter, we look into a multisector growth model which is subject to the constraints provided by Cobb-Douglas production functions. This chapter introduces a model which serves as a simplified version of the model used by Radner that involves the utility function and making use of the method of Lagrange multipliers. Also, because improved human capital usually entails country development, this chapter introduces a model that produces a state of no growth and a state of continued growth. Also, we look into other factors that bring about economic growth such as technological advances.

Because of technological advances in terms of communications, and because of the liberalization of capital accounts, private capital flows experienced rapid growth at the end of the 20th century across developing economies. This final chapter looks into the differences between the capital flows to Asia and Latin America that seem to have gained much importance during the earlier years of this study rather than in 1990s. Analyzing the scale and the prominent characteristics of global private capital flows aids in identifying the key elements involved in managing capital flows and policy making procedures especially in developing countries. Also, this chapter attempts to provide a comparison of the various policy responses implemented by different developing countries in addressing such issues.

This chapter explores and studies innovation over American economic history. The U.S. economy itself is seen to have a relatively continuous track record of rates of technological change; however this achievement cannot necessarily be credited to entrepreneurs’ ongoing ability to secure financing for their ventures. The chapter also gives a brief history of R&D projects and how they have affected innovation and invention. Complementarities are noted in R&D and the commercialization of new technologies, however, the rise of venture capital made large firms more focused with regards to extensive in-house R&D as their access to capital and how they could spread their investments across different projects. Through the construction of the R&D in the past, it is seen that the methods through which resources are mobilized for technological advance has varied over time and across industries. In a way, it is concluded, there might be no single globally superior method in which invention can be organized.

This chapter discusses the significance of the hospital as a social institution. It is one of the most complex of social institutions — an institution which in recent years has grown immensely in its complexities, and to which scholars have added newer complications as a result of the development of the National Health Service. Now, in this situation, the chapter suggests three main dangers. The first danger is that increasing complexity in structure, functions, and administration can lead to increasing economic and social costs without a proportional rise in value rendered to the community. The second danger is that the ends or aims of hospital work may be obscured by excessive preoccupation with means. The third danger is represented by scientific and technological advance.

African countries are faced with enormous technological challenges, but they also have access to a large pool of scientific and technical knowledge, giving them certain latecomer advantages. Current technological advances in the agricultural sector have the potential to contribute to both food security and food safety. Technology will also be important to mitigate climate change by reducing the agricultural sector’s dependence on fossil fuels and its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this chapter is to review major advances in science, technology, and engineering and to identify their potential for use in African agriculture. This exploration will also include an examination of local innovations as well as indigenous knowledge. It will cover fields such as information and communications technology, ecology, and geographical sciences. It will emphasize the convergence of these and other fields and their implications for African agriculture.

This chapter analyses developments in the field of psycholinguistics during the past fifty years. It describes the history of psycholinguistics and its formative influences. It suggests that the works of psycholinguists have been significantly transformed by technological advances including the use of the computer as a model information processor. Prior to the computers, it was the tape recorder that made possible controlled and replicable research on spoken language.

This Afterword consolidates and summarizes the findings revealed by the studies and analyses undergone throughout the book. It concludes that innovation is even more important in today’s globalized economy. The technological leadership of the United States is seen to be mainly influenced by institutional supports for the market in technology. The United States has been fortunate, thus far, to have its institutions be capable of adapting over time to changing circumstances in the market for technology. An example of the importance of institutional innovation in promoting technological advance is the massive growth of venture capital. We can add to this the institution of the U.S. patent system, which fostered further development of ideas and creativity, especially after such innovations were presented at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851. It is this institutional edge that keeps the U.S. above other countries with technological potential such as China, India, and Brazil.

The global expansion of higher education eroded the United States' position as the country with the most highly educated workforce, and potentially endangers its lead in science and technology. In the 2000s, diverse business and academic groups issued reports warning that the faster growth of the supply of science and engineering students overseas than in the United States posed a risk to national competitiveness and national security. This chapter concerns the global expansion in university training in terms of the increased proportion of young persons enrolled in university in advanced countries; the increased absolute number of young persons obtaining university training in developing countries; the influx of women into higher education; and the growing number of international students from developing countries. The globalization of higher education should benefit the United States and the world economy by accelerating the rate of technological advance associated with science and engineering, and by speeding the adoption of best practices around the world, which will lower the costs of production and prices of goods. The chapter concludes by analyzing the benefits and costs of these two alternatives, and by considering government and university policies that might enhance the net benefits to the United States from the global expansion of higher education.

This chapter provides an overview of innovative policies for agriculture, with the purpose of highlighting aspects of interest to the energy sector. It also presents a summary of global agricultural research investments, with particular attention to public versus private investments and their distribution between developed and less-developed countries. The chapter furthermore outlines the history of U.S. public investment in agriculture. It raises a number of important issues around the role of intellectual property rights and public or private partnership in framing innovation. The importance of government regulation and its dual responsibilities of ensuring public safety and promoting technological advances are also described. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the factors influencing technological adoption in agriculture.

This chapter deals with the advance of technology that reinforces the case against intervention and control. It focuses on the main argument that the pace of unknowns will outstrip the pace of knowledge capability. Another kind of argument that supports the contention about technology and the case for intervention is that technological advance often dissolves the momentary rationale for the particular intervention. The more that technology has potential, the less sense it makes to get confined into a regulatory device based on obsolete justification for intervening.