What patent applications can tell us about America’s economic prospects.
A quick glance suggests several conclusions: First, the view that a worldwide technological and innovative explosion began in the mid-1960s and continues until now is correct. The sheer number of patent applications—which had remained relatively static from the 1880s until the 1950s—suddenly grew dramatically, coinciding with the onset of the computer and telecom revolutions. Second, not surprisingly, the patent offices receiving the vast majority of this explosion have been those in nations with the greatest economic growth during that period—initially the United States and Japan and more recently China, Korea, and Russia.
This ties in with yesterday’s comment about basic research being the raw material of later applications.