World scientific competition heats up

World scientific competition heats up

Today's New York Times had a story by William Broad on the increasingly competitive world of scientific research. The title tells Broad's story: "U.S. is losing its dominance in the sciences.".

"The United States has started to lose its worldwide dominance in critical areas of science and innovation, according to federal and private experts who point to strong evidence like prizes awarded to Americans and the number of papers in major professional journals.

Foreign advances in basic science now often rival or even exceed America's, apparently with little public awareness of the trend or its implications for jobs, industry, national security or the vigor of the nation's intellectual and cultural life...

We are being overtaken by the Europeans and the East Asians, with China looming up in the background. Although at one point a nod is given to the benefits, in general the story is moderately alarmist. We will have to send more royalties overseas when we use inventions patented by foreigners. Tom Daschle is worried. "...future trends look challenging, many analysts say."

Europeans and East Asians are publishing more in prestigious journals, we're publishing less. Larger proportions of U.S. industrial patents are being granted to foreigners ("Japan, Taiwan, and south Korea now account for more than a quarter of all United States industrial patents awarded each year...Moreover, their growth rates are rapid. Between 1980 and 2002, south Korea went from 0 to 2 percentof the total, Taiwan from 0 to 3 percent and Japan from 12 to 21 percent...") Not only that, but these are "good" patents. Scientific papers published by U.S. citizens peaked in 1992, the number of new doctorates peaked in 1998. Our share of the Nobel Prizes has dropped.

There may be reasons for concern (Why have the numbers of new U.S. science doctorates decreased?) but I think Broad's tone of mild concern ultimately misses the real story. It's good - and inevitable - that more of the world is becoming capable of cutting edge scientific research. The more of the planet's brains brought on line, the better. Life will be better in the U.S. because of research done in South Korea. We may send more royalties overseas, but most compensation in the U.S. is labor or entrepreneurial compensation, this depends on labor productivity, and that is enhanced by scientific and technical advances.

Title added 5-4-04