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Most industrial nations actively support research and development of advanced computer technology. They usually justify public expenditures on the basis of both economic and national security benefits. This heavy government involvement and the international nature of the computer industry have created increasing challenges to accepted principles of international trade and investment. In this detailed analysis of the origins and evolution of government support for computer technology in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, Kenneth Flamm compares the amounts these countries have invested and how they have organized public and private funding over the past thirty-five years. He challenges popular myths about the size and effectiveness of government programs to support computer technology, and argues that the data suggest a high social rate of return on those investments. Flamm concludes that the United States must reevaluate its policies on research and development. The role of military programs as the primary vehicle for computer technology development should be de-emphasized in favor of support for joint, pre-competitive industrial research. Cooperative research ventures linking universities and industry also ought to be encouraged. Since global markets are vital to American computer firms, Flamm argues that policies to promote orderly international trade and investment in high-technology products are needed to avoid an expanding spiral of protectionism.

Since the early 1960s exports of manufactures from developing countries have grown rapidly. Widening gaps between the wages of rich and poor countries, coupled with dramatic declines in transportation costs and increased technological capabilities, led to this growth. Production of labor-intensive goods in newly industrializing economies became a significant factor in work markets. Industrial country firms responded to this situation by integrating production processes were transferred abroad to countries with an abundance of cheap labor, while technologically advanced components were supplied at home. In this book the authors evaluate the positive and negative aspects of foreign assembly and suggest ways in which it may develop and affect the future of North-South relations. They examine in detail the U.S. semiconductor industry, the first to go abroad on a large scale. They also chart the development of the semiconductor industries of Western Europe and Japan, and show the strengths and weaknesses of the various policy alternatives available in this rapidly growing, highly competitive industry. In other chapters they present case studies of the assembly industries in Mexico, Haiti, and Colombia. Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the United States, is the most important partner of the United States in assembly activities abroad. Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, has received a strong economic stimulus from assembly. The explosive growth of Colombian assembly for the U.S. market came as that country rose to be the fifth largest industrial producer in Latin America. The book concludes with an overview of the domestic political, social, and economic effects of the reorganization of industry abroad and a summary of the policy implications, both for the United States and for the developing countries that are its

ABSTRACT
Does entry and exit of competitors from broadband services markets have large effects on the quality of broadband plans offered to consumers? Answers to this question inform design of subsidies to improved broadband in underserved areas, and antitrust policy. The authors investigate quality effects of entry (or exit) in 2014 legacy (cable and digital subscriber line) duopoly residential markets. Entry or exit by legacy technology providers had large impacts on 2018 service quality, though impacts diminished rapidly with continued entry. Entry by a single fiber Internet service provider (ISP) had no impact on available quality; entry by more fiber ISPs had modest but statistically significant effects.