The Federal Government Role in the Development of the American Software Industry: An Assessment

Richard N. Langlois () and David C. Mowery
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David C. Mowery: University of California, Berkeley

Industrial Organization from EconWPA

Abstract: This paper is an interpretive history of federal support for the American software industry from its beginnings through the 1980s. As in other high-technology cases, federal _ especially defense-related _ support for software was crucial early in the technology's development, but the flow of spillovers quickly began to reverse as military needs diverged from those of a burgeoning commercial market. The case of software differs from those of other high-technology industries, however, in the specific nature and evolution of military-civilian spillovers within software as well as in the role of federally funded university research within the industry's development.

JEL-codes: L (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995-03-16
Note: 84 pages. To appear in David C. Mowery, ed., The International Computer Software Industry: A Comparative Study of Industrial Evolution and Structure. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:9503001

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