The Challenge to U.S. Leadership in High-Technology Industries (Can the United States Maintain Its Lead? Should It Try?)

The United States emerged from World War II as the acknowledged global leader in basic science and its industrial application. While U.S. science has been able to maintain that preeminence in most areas, the nation's technological lead has met increasingly formidable challenges from abroad. Although the evidence on recent U.S. performance is mixed, other nations, and especially Japan, have clearly gained ground in high-technology production and trade. The future of U.S. high-technology production has thus emerged as a major focus of public policy. This paper reviews the recent performance of U.S. high-techology industries, examines possible motives underlying government policies to promote high-technology production, and offers some guidelines for evaluating the outcomes of alternative policy regimes.