In: Economics
When technology spillover occurs,
Select one:
a. it is the government's responsibility to own firms that are engaged in high-tech research.
b. a firm's research yields technological knowledge that can then be used by society as a whole.
c. those firms engaged in technology research should be taxed by the government.
d. firms invest in the latest production technology and the cost of that technology "spills over" to the prices consumers must pay for the product.
Technology spillover refers to the unintentional technological benefits to the firms (secondary beneficiary) that comes from the research and development efforts of other firms (primary beneficiary) without the cost being shared and the creator of technological information has no effective recourse if the other firms utilize information so acquired.
The social benefits of technological innovation takes into account the value of all the positive externalities –beneficial spillover to the firms (secondary beneficiary) - of the new ideas as well as the private benefits received by the firms (primary beneficiary) that developed the new technology.
Thus, we can say that when technology spillover occurs, a firm’s research yields technological knowledge that can be then used by the society as a whole.