Re: Markets and socialism

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 07/14/00 10:52AM >>>

Louis Proyect wrote:

> The most interesting points were made around the question of innovation.
> Kotz makes a convincing case that competition such as the kind that exists
> in the Adam Smith model is HOSTILE to technical innovation. Capitalist
> firms would under-invest normally because their competitors can easily
> mimic the new improvements without undergoing the same expenditures. In
> reality, monopolistic firms are generally the ones that promote R&D,
> especially those that receive tax subsidies or have ties to the military.
> Bell Labs was a major innovator for many decades, but as soon as the phone
> companies were broken up, Bell Labs switched to market research from pure
> science or engineering.

This theme is central to several of my books.  It is rarely discussed today,
but in the late 19th C., it was commonplace.

___________

CB: So, the pre-monopoly bourgeoisie are only constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production relative to feudalism ?