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Past fears that robots and computers would cause large increases in secular unemployment have proven unfounded. Some well-respected economists and other technology and labor analysts are worried again. Advances in algorithms have proven impressive, but experts on the mind and neuroscience remain skeptical about the extent to which robots and computers will be able to duplicate or surpass humans in areas of insight, judgment, and creativity. Certainly, for the foreseeable future, robots and computers will be more complements to human labor, than they will be substitutes for human labor, enhancing us more than replacing us. If we use the precautionary principle to justify heavy regulation of robots and computers, the benefits of enhancement will be fewer and will be delayed. JEL Classifications: J63, O33, L51, D83, O31

Invention and innovation are key components of creative destruction, and for many decades most economists who studied patents believed that patents encouraged invention and innovation. More recently, however, many distinguished and thoughtful scholars and policy analysts have doubted that patents encourage invention and innovation. The great fact is not just a historical curiosity because most people would like to see it continue and accelerate, so it is important to seek out the patent truth. To answer several patent questions, the author begins by examining arguments from ethics and economics, evaluated in the light of historical and contemporary evidence. Next he provides historical narratives of how patent systems have worked well in the past and have stopped working well in the US in recent decades. Finally, he discusses possible government policy reforms and private entrepreneurial institutional innovations that may create a better patent system in the future. Adapted from the source document.

Keynes was viewed by himself, Schumpeter, and most others as the most highly esteemed economist of the twentieth century. However, Schumpeter is receiving increasing attention from mainstream economists. A few specific examples are discussed, and the citation time series for Keynes and Schumpeter are compared for the period 1956 through 2006. Generally, Keynes receives more citations than Schumpeter from 1956 through roughly the mid-1990s. But subsequently until 2006, Schumpeter received more citations than Keynes.

AbstractPolywater, one of the most famous mistaken scientific research programs of the past half‐century, is used as a case study to examine whether polywater researchers later experienced lower citation counts, or less favorable job mobility. The primary result is that simply writing on polywater, either pro or con, has a negative impact on future citations, in comparison with those who never wrote on polywater. The lifetime value of the lost citations is roughly in the range of $13,000 to $19,000. However writing on polywater did not affect the probability of a scientist leaving university employment.

Proposed cutbacks in government science funding have caused many to expect that the rate of scientific progress will significantly decline. Before the magnitude of the decline can be estimated, a preliminary question must be answered: what is the extent to which private funding of science may be expected to fill the gap left by the declining government funding? Using data on government and private funding of science, preliminary estimation indicates that past government funding of science has not "crowded out" private funding of science. If this finding is supported by further research, it would indicate that private funding could not be expected to replace lost federal funding of science. (JEL H4, HI, 03, D6, L3)

Evidence from the data tape for the 1985 Directory of the American Economic Association indicates that blacks and women remain underrepresented compared to their numbers in the general population. Although we present some limited evidence of increased representation of these minorities, the finding of underrepresentation is robust when we look at other measures of career status such as rank achieved or status of institution of employment. A fuller understanding of the determinants of minority participation within the economics profession will require that the data presented here be combined with data from other sources on productivity, salaries, and labor market alternatives.