Background
Ruttan, Vernon Wesley was born on August 16, 1924 in Alden, Michigan, United States. Son of Ward W. and Marjorie Ann (Chaney) Ruttan.
(Technology, Growth, and Development uniquely presents the...)
Technology, Growth, and Development uniquely presents the complexities of technical and institutional change on the foundation of modern growth theory. The author shows how the rates and directions of technical change are induced by changes in competitive funding and institutional innovations in the modern research university and industrial laboratory. In turn, technical change itself becomes a powerful source of institutional change. Organized by the author in four parts, the first-Productivity and Economic Growth-gives specific reasons for the slowing of productivity growth in the United States and other leading industrial countries during the last quarter of the twentieth century. In Part II-Sources of Technical Change-the author examines a host of economic factors that influence invention and innovation; the rate and direction of institutional change; and the adoption, diffusion, and transfer of technology. In Part III-Technical Innovation and Industrial Change-he traces the sources and impact of technical change in five strategically important industries: agriculture, electric power, chemical, computer, and biotechnology. The final section, Part IV-Technology Policy-evaluates the role of technical change in international competition, the role of science and technology in environmental policy, and the evolution of U.S. science and technology policy. Technology, Growth, and Development makes few mathematical demands on students, and will be used in courses within economics departments as well as management and public affairs. In addition, it will be required reading for professional economists, managers, and policy analysts at all levels.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195118715/?tag=2022091-20
(Military and defense-related procurement has been an impo...)
Military and defense-related procurement has been an important source of technology development across a broad spectrum of industries that account for an important share of United States industrial production. In this book, the author focuses on six general-purpose technologies: interchangeable parts and mass production; military and commercial aircraft; nuclear energy and electric power; computers and semiconductors; the INTERNET; and the space industries. In each of these industries, technology development would have occurred more slowly, and in some case much more slowly or not at all, in the absence of military and defense-related procurement. The book addresses three questions that have significant implications for the future growth of the United States economy. One is whether changes in the structure of the United States economy and of the defense-industrial base preclude military and defense-related procurement from playing the role in the development of advanced technology in the future, comparable to the role it has played in the past. A second question is whether public support for commercially oriented research and development will become an important source of new general-purpose technologies. A third and more disturbing question is whether a major war, or the threat of major war, will be necessary to mobilize the scientific, technical, and financial resources necessary to induce the development of new general-purpose technologies. When the history of United States technology development in the next half century is written, it will focus on incremental rather than revolutionary changes in both military and commercial technology. It will also be written within the context of slower productivity growth than of the relatively high rates that prevailed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s or during the information technology bubble that began in the early 1990s. These will impose severe constraints on the capacity of the United States to sustain a global-class military posture and a position of leadership in the global economy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195188047/?tag=2022091-20
( Ruttan advances a model of institutional change, which ...)
Ruttan advances a model of institutional change, which creates an environment where resource and cultural endowments and technical change can take place. The disequilibria resulting from such changes create opportunities for the design of more efficient institutional arrangements. The design perspective employed in the book stands in sharp contrast to organic or evolutionary perspectives. With its emphasis on interdisciplinarity, Social Science Knowledge and Economics Developmentis important reading for social scientists, development economists, and in the development studies classroom. Vernon W. Ruttan is Regents Professor Emeritus in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472113550/?tag=2022091-20
(Military and defense-related procurement has been an impo...)
Military and defense-related procurement has been an important source of technology development across a broad spectrum of industries that account for an important share of United States industrial production. In this book, the author focuses on six general-purpose technologies: interchangeable parts and mass production; military and commercial aircraft; nuclear energy and electric power; computers and semiconductors; the INTERNET; and the space industries. In each of these industries, technology development would have occurred more slowly, and in some case much more slowly or not at all, in the absence of military and defense-related procurement. The book addresses three questions that have significant implications for the future growth of the United States economy. One is whether changes in the structure of the United States economy and of the defense-industrial base preclude military and defense-related procurement from playing the role in the development of advanced technology in the future, comparable to the role it has played in the past. A second question is whether public support for commercially oriented research and development will become an important source of new general-purpose technologies. A third and more disturbing question is whether a major war, or the threat of major war, will be necessary to mobilize the scientific, technical, and financial resources necessary to induce the development of new general-purpose technologies. When the history of United States technology development in the next half century is written, it will focus on incremental rather than revolutionary changes in both military and commercial technology. It will also be written within the context of slower productivity growth than of the relatively high rates that prevailed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s or during the information technology bubble that began in the early 1990s. These will impose severe constraints on the capacity of the United States to sustain a global-class military posture and a position of leadership in the global economy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195188047/?tag=2022091-20
Ruttan, Vernon Wesley was born on August 16, 1924 in Alden, Michigan, United States. Son of Ward W. and Marjorie Ann (Chaney) Ruttan.
Bachelor, Yale University, 1948. Master of Arts, University Chicago, 1950. Doctor of Philosophy, University Chicago, 1952.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), Rutgers University, 1978. Doctor Agricultural Science ((honorary), University Kiel, Germany, 1986. Doctor Agricultural Science ((honorary), Purdue University, 1991.
Economics, Division Regional Studies, 1951-1953. General Manager, United States Tennessee Valley Authority, 1954. Assistant Professor, Association Professor, Professor Agriculture Economics, Purdue University, Indiana, 1955-1957,
bO, 1960-1963.
Executive Office President,
Staff Economics, United States President's Council Economics Advisers, 1961-1963. Agriculture Economics, Rockefeller Foundation, International Rice Research Institute, Institution, Philippines, 1963-1965. Trustee, President, Agriculture Development Council Incorporated, 1967-1973, 1973-1977.
Professor Agriculture and Applied Economics, University Minnesota, Minnesota, United States of America.
(Military and defense-related procurement has been an impo...)
(Military and defense-related procurement has been an impo...)
( Ruttan advances a model of institutional change, which ...)
(Technology, Growth, and Development uniquely presents the...)
Author (with Y. Hayami): Agricultural Development: An International Perspective, 1971, 1985. Author: United States Development Assistance Policy, 1996, Technology, Growth and Development, 2001, Social Science Knowledge and Economic Development, 2003, Is War Necessary for Economic Growth, 2006.
Theory and measurement of productivity growth. Extension and testing of the theory of induced technical change. Development of the theory of induced institutional change.
And empirical analyses of the rate of technical and institutional
change on agricultural development, and research policy.
Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Agricultural Economics Association (president 1971-1972, Publication award 1956, 57, 62, 66, 67, 71, 79, 85, 97). Member National Academy of Sciences.
Married Marilyn M. Barone, July 30, 1945. Children: Lia Marie, Christopher, Alison Elaine, Lore Megan.