Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Click to enlarge

Print Price: $52.95

Format:
Hardback
176 pp.
14 line illustrations, 6.125" x 9.25"

ISBN-13:
9780199729685

Publication date:
January 2011

Imprint: OUP US

Public Goods, Public Gains

Calculating the Social Benefits of Public R&D

Albert N. Link and John T. Scott

In Public Goods, Public Gains, Link and Scott discuss the systematic application of alternative evaluation methods to estimate the social benefits of publicly-financed research and development (R&D). The authors argue that economic theory should be the guiding criterion for any method of program evaluation because it focuses attention on the value and the opportunity costs of the program.

The evaluation methods discussed and illustrated are both economics and, for comparison, non-economics based.

The book is motivated by four foundation chapters that discuss government's role in innovation from the perspective of economic theory, review public accountability issues from both a constitutional and an historical perspective, overview systematic approaches to program evaluation, and describe the evaluation metrics typically used. Four case studies illustrate the four alternative evaluation approached discussed. These case studies are for the U.S. Advanced Technology Program's intramural research awards program, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's research on wavelength references for optical fiber communications, the U.S. Malcolm Balridge National Quality Award, and the Advanced Technology Program's focused program on the integration of manufacturing applications.

Readership : Supplemental text for graduate classes in policy analysis (within economics, political science, and public policy). Policy makers and Practitioners involved in program evaluation.

About the Authors
Introduction
Government's Role in Innovation
Historical Perspectives on Public Accountability
Systematic Approaches to Program Evaluation and Evaluation Metrics
Introduction to the Case Studies
The Advanced Technology Program's Intramural Research Awards Program
Wavelength References for Optical Fiber Communications
The Malcolm Balridge National Quality Award
Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications
Conclusions
References
Index

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Albert N. Link is Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His research focuses on innovation policy, academic entrepreneurship, and the economics of R&D. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Technology Transfer. Professor Link is serving as the vice-chairperson of the Innovation and Competitiveness Policies Committee of the United Nation's Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). John T. Scott is Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College. His research is in the areas of industrial organization and the economics of technological change. He has served as the President of the Industrial Organization Society and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Industrial Organization, the Review of Industrial Organization, and The Journal of Industrial Economics.

Government as Entrepreneur - ALbert N. Link and Jamie R. Link
Making Sense - Margot Northey and Joan McKibbin

Special Features

Public Goods, Public Gains is the first book to provide a basis, grounded in economic theory, for alternative approaches to evaluation methods.