Does the "free market" actually spur innovation that much?

glennmagusharvey

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/2012124114456348914.html

I'm guessing this is an op-ed or somesuch.  Discuss.

 

Would have made this thread in OTC but I just found out that I would actually have to think up a first response, which I don't want to do, for the sake of the discussion and because I feel lazy.

Malkavian

I'd say no. When a successful company finds a routine that works for them they tend to dislike the idea of anything that threatens that routine. See the oil industry and the MPAA.

Whale

No.

 

War and necessity are the parents of invention

Gelzo

It depends on the form of capitalism. Unregulated capitalism will result in the powerful putting more resources into retaining power than into innovation. Capitalism can be very good in motivating people to be innovative, but the rewards can't involve the ability to stifle the creativity of others.

(Hope that was coherent enough. I'm slightly drunk.)

Nyktos

If the goal is to give incentives for innovation, it seems like a much more efficient way to do it would be to give incentives to innovation.

Wicked223

profit on the free market is an incentive for innovation, though

Nyktos

It's a disincentive to any kind of innovation that you aren't absolutely 100% certain will be profitable.

glennmagusharvey

Not quite; there are a darn lot of flopped products out there.

I say that the truth is somewhere between the two extremes (as usual).  The market can be innovative, but is much more effective at innovation when it comes to small-scale, consumer-use goods.  Larger-scale projects that require vast investments are less possible in the market because it's harder to pool together as much capital.  So as usual, you need some of both.

captainbrass

I tend to agree with the article. The private sector is good at turning technology into products that people will want to buy, but not so good at the basic research that leads to that technology. That takes time and costs money without the certainty of any return. An awful lot of that work gets done by government institutions - universities, research institutes, the military and so on.

Incidentally, I think most businesspeople would not dispute this, or at any rate would be keen for universities etc. to go on doing that research so they don't have to. It tends to be conservative ideologues like the one mentioned in the article who are keen to shrink the state's role here. In the same way, I've never heard of a businessman who wouldn't take government handouts on ideological grounds. 

Bee

When the market gets down to a small number of cartel-like players, there's actually a good reason for those players to want to stifle innovation.

Naas_Human

I have to agree with this thread. If corporations find it easier to make money by without creating leaps in technology and such, it's not hard to believe that they would choose not to fund much R&D.

Icalasari

:< I hate how people will screw over everyone just for money

Gelzo

[prostitution joke]