663 



home. In fields such as power generation, primary metals, road and rail trans- 

 portation, consumer durables, and communications, European companies are 

 among the world leaders."^ 



AMERICAN HIGH-TECHNOLOGY BIAS 



Another American view, by Arnold Kramish, suggests that not only 

 does a technological gap exist, but that it is likely to persist. He ob- 

 serves: (1) "... At any given moment, the rate of a nation's tech- 

 nological growth is proportional to the external pressures, and to a 

 vague factor incorporating national awareness and will." and (2) 

 ". . . The United States will never be content with anything less thaji 

 a position of world technological leadership, a position which is rein- 

 forced by her determination to maintain strategic superiority over any 

 other country. She will thus continue to have a high investment in 

 esoteric or pioneer forms of technology." ^^* 



It was this U.S. preoccupation with strategic (i.e., military) hard- 

 ware that diverted American technologists from "prosaic problems 

 such as those of improving old processes or dealing with air pollution 

 and waste disposal." He noted that the British had perfected an Ameri- 

 can invention of "float glass" and today enjoy a strong international 

 position in a lucrative field, "Why was not this process developed in 

 the United States, since it was American in origin?" Kramish's ex- 

 planation is that Europeans have a greater interest in increasing the 

 efficiency and productivity of commonplace processes, rather than 

 risking development of "frontier" teclinology."^ 



TABLE 3— HOW TRADE FOLLOWS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 

 |A comparison of competitive trade performance in 18 U.S. industries witli research and development) 



Industry 



Aircraft _ 



Office machinery 



Drugs 



Other machinery 



I nstruments 



Chemicals, except drugs 



Electrical equipment 



Rubber 



Motor vehicles 



Petroleum refining 



Fabricated metal products... 



Nonferrous metals 



Paper and allied products.,. 

 Stone, clay, glass products.. 

 Other transport equipment. . 

 Lumber and wood products. 



Textile mill products 



Primary ferrous metals 



Source: D. Keesing, The Impact of Research and Development on United States Trade, International Economics Workshop, 

 Columbia University, February 1966. (As reproduced in: Christopher Layton. "European Advanced Technology, A Pro- 

 gramme for Integration" (London, George Allen PEP, 1969), p. 278.) 



U3 " 'The American Challenge' Challenged." Harvard Business Review, (September- 

 October, 1969), pages 46-49, 52. 



^* Arnold Kramish. "Atlantic Technological Imbalance : An American Perspective." 

 Defense Technology and the Western Alliance. Institute for Strategic Studies, (occasional 

 paper, 1967). Mr. Kramish is author of Atomic Energy in the Soviet Union (1959) and 

 The Peaceful Atom in Foreign Policy (1963) ; he is co-author (with E. M. Zuckert) of 

 Atomic Energy for Your Business (1956) . 



^5 Ibid., page 4. 



