It followed the trend it was following before it, or so we can see in data from NACA (What NASA used to be) In its present state, and even considering the improvements possible when adopting the higher temperatures proposed for the immediate future, the gas turbine engine could hardly be considered a feasible application to airplanes mainly because of the difficulty in complying with stringent weight requirements imposed by aeronautics. The present internal-combustion engine equipment used in airplanes wei…

Some (probably I'm still missing things) bibliography, as I don't have time now to do a full article. A preliminary summary of the literature in Akkemik's paper: They first protected targeted infant industries from foreign competition. When they became competitive and when Japan introduced liberalization in capital flows and international trade, these industries were opened to foreign competition. The strategic industries in the aftermath of the postwar period and the 1950s were designated as coal, iron, a…

There's a document around by Block & Keller (2011) ("Where do innovations come from?") doing some very weird definitions. Mariana Mazzucato: Given the leading developmental role the US government plays in a vast number of sectors, it is no surprise that at a more micro level, Block and Keller (2011b) found that between 1971 and 2006, 77 out of the most important 88 innovations (rated by R&D Magazine’s annual awards) – or 88 per cent – have been fully dependent on federal research support,…

Contrary to what a naïve understanding of an introductory Economics course would teach you, markets have lots of cooperation in them, not only competition. One example I want to discuss today is R&D Consortia: Different entities (Corporations, universities, and laboratories) coming together to do research, even when the individual members each have their own goals and products in mind Why would different actors do this? The motivations include sharing costs and risks, exploring new concepts, pooling sca…

The standard argument against full egalitarianism is the Levelling Down Objection (LDO). What if there is an argument for egalitarianism that turns the LDO on its head? It is usually asserted by thoughtful people that what matters is poverty, not inequality. Inequality would only matter only as far as it engenders bad consequences, as some researchers have tried to show. So far I'm unconvinced of the strongest claims (Sorry, Pickett & Wilkinson). But Branko Milanovic presented here an argument defending…

Hace unos meses, esto que escribí recibió una crítica aquí. No me convenció la crítica, y aquí explicaré por qué. Recomiendo leer antes el primer artículo y la crítica antes de leer este, pues aquí iré citando de la réplica y respondiendo, sin repetir lo que ya dije. Argumentaré que la defensa de la ética de libertad de Francisco Capella, aún conduciendo a conclusiones plausibles y estando en gran medida de acuerdo con ellas, es en última instancia errónea, poco rigurosa, y falaz,  siendo la formulación de …