The Politics of Innovation: Why Some Countries Are Better Than Others at Science and Technology

"[A] highly readable, well-documented, and well-argued contribution to the literature on comparative economic development, which many readers may find interesting and thought provoking." --Journal of Economic Literature "[A] well-written and exciting book that I read cover-to-cover as if it were a detective novel...The book is written for a very wide audience, for both scholars and laymen, both professors and policymakers. His knowledge of the literature, and of the history of science and technology, is commendable." --Journal of Social Policy "Taylor provides an excellent survey of current debate over the challenges of sustaining national innovation and adds the usefulness of a new empirical measure to the debate. Using an increasingly common approach among political scientists, he argues that leadership in national innovation depends upon the difference between external economic and military threats and internal political and economic tensions. Quite accessible for undergraduate and graduate students." --R. B. Emmett, James Madison College, Michigan State University