Government Economic Behavior, To Support Scientific And Technological Progress

It is science and technology that produces strength. Nowadays, it is a general choice of governments all around the world to adopt the economic behavior to support the advancement of science and technology, thus to safeguard the national benefit. However, in the long historical process, it is not just a natural combination between science and technology and government, but the one that attracts each other gradually and finally go together. Why will the government support the advancement of science and technology? What is the range that the government supports the advancement of S&T? How should the government support the advancement of S&T? The research to these problems helps the government to intervene the scientific and technologic undertaking more effectively, and to promote its progress.The analysis to these questions should firstly proceed with the theory of the public goods. The market failure is the motive power that involves the government in the social economic life, while it is the public goods that primarily result in the market failure. The non-divisibility of utility, the non-rivalness of consumption and the non-excludability of benefits are the attributes of public goods, proceeding with which people could judge the characteristics of goods. The article states that the public-goods attribute of science is more outstanding, and the private-goods attribute of technology is more obvious according to the analysis. In general, science and technology is one kind of mixed goods, which make it unfeasible to be offered simply by the market or the government. Science and technology has not only realized the social equity but also supports the intervention of government in scientific and technologic undertaking. How to confirm the range of the intervention is a key problem. And it essentially lies in the nature of the scientific and technologic goods. The more evident the public-goods attribute is, the greater the financial supporting is, and the opposite is also true. The market and government should...