NOTES for SOME COMPETITIVENESS INDICATORS AND PERSPECTIVES For 2001, the dollar value of high-technology imports was $561 billion; the value of high-technology exports was $511 billion. See National Science Board. 2004. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NSB 04-01). Arlington, Virginia. National Science Foundation. Appendix Table 6-01. Page A6-5 provides the export numbers for 1990 and 2001 and page A6-6 has the import numbers. 2 Steve Roach.. More Jobs, Worse Work. New York Times. July 22, 2004. Chris Noon. 2005. “Starbuck's Schultz Bemoans Health Care Costs" Forbes.com, September 19. Available at http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2005/09/15/starbuckshealthcarebenefitscx_cn_0915autofacescan01.html?partner=yah ooti, Ron Scherer. 2005. “Rising Benefits Burden." Christian Science Monitor, June 9. Available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0609/p01s01-usec.html *Sara Kehaulani Goo. Airlines Outsource Upkeep. Washington Post. August 21, 2005. Available at Sara Kehaulani Goo. Two-Way Traffic in Airplane Repair. Washington Post June 1 2004. Available at 3 December 8. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/05/business/05cnd-auto.html?ex=1137128400&en-ac63687768634c6d&ei=5070 In China, Paul A. Laudicina, World Out of Balance: Navigating Global Risks to Seize Competitive Advantage. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005, p. 76. For the United States, see US Census Bureau. US. Population Clock. Available at www.census.gov for current population and for the projected population, see Population Projections Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Population Projections of the United States by Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Nativity: 1999 to 2100. Washington, D.C. January 13, 2000. Available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/natsum-T3.html. Michael J. Boskin and Lawrence J. Lau. 1992. Capital, Technology, and Economic Growth. in Nathan Rosenberg, Ralph Landau, and David C. Mowery, eds. Technology and the Wealth of Nations. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. Paul J. Lim. Looking Ahead Means Looking Abroad New York Times. January 8th 2006. 10 Michael Arndt. 2005. "No Longer the Lab of the World: U.S. Chemical Plants are Closing in Droves as Production Heads Abroad." BusinessWeek, May 2. Available at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931106.htm and http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/051010/10energy.htm 11 As of 2000, the unauthorized resident population in the United States was 7 million. See US Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2003. “Executive Summary: Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990 to 2000." January 31. Available at http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/publications/2000ExecSumm.pdf. 12 Section 214(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (Act) sets an annual limit on the number of aliens that can receive H-1B status in a fiscal year. For FY2000 the limit was set at 115,000. The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act increased the annual limit to 195,000 for 2001, 2002 and 2003. After that date the cap reverts back to 65,000. H-1B visas allow employers to have access to highly educated foreign professionals who have experience in specialized fields and who have at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent. The cap does not apply to educational institutions. In November 2004, Congress created an exemption for 20,000 foreign nationals earning advanced degrees from US universities. See Immigration and Nationality Act Section 101(a)(15)(h)(1)(b). See US Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2005. "Public Notice: "USCIS Announces Update Regarding New H-1B Exemptions" July 12. Available at http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/H1B_06Cap_011806PR.pdf and US Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2000. "Questions and Answers: Changes to the H-1B Program" November 21. Available at http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/questsans/H1BChang.htm. 13 Pew Research Center. 2005 "U.S. Image Up Slightly, But Still Negative, American Character Gets Mixed Reviews" Pew Global Attitudes Project. Washington, DC. Available at http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=247 The interview asked nearly 17,000 people the question: "Suppose a young person who wanted to leave this country asked you to recommend where to go to lead a good life - what country would you recommend?" Except for respondents in India, Poland, and Canada, no more than one-tenth of the people in the other nations said they would recommend the United States. Canada and Australia won the popularity contest. 14 United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2005. International Comparisons Of Hourly Compensation Costs For Production Workers In Manufacturing, 2004. November 18. Available at ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/ichcc.11182005.news 15 Semiconductor Industry Association. 2005. “Choosing to Compete." December 12. Available at 16 http://www.sia-online.org/downloads/FAD%20′05%20-%20Scalise%20Presentation.pdf OECD. 2005. “China Overtakes U.S. As World's Leading Exporter of Information Technology Goods." December 12. Available at http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,2340,en_2649_201185_35834236_1_1_1_1,00.html. The main categories included in OECD's definition of ICT (information and communications technology) goods are electronic components, computers and related equipment, audio and video equipment and telecommunication equipment. 17 OECD. 2005. “OECD Broadband Statistics, June 2005." October 20. Available at http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,2340,en_2649_201185_35526608_1_1_1_1,00.html#data2004 18 National Center for Education Statistics.. (2006), "The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2005." See http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/main2005/2006453.pdf. 19 National Science Board. 2004. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NSB 04-01). Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation Chapter 1. 20 National Center for Education Statistics (2004), Schools and Staffing Survey, 2004. "Qualifications of the Public School Teacher Workforce: Prevalence of Out-of-Field Teaching 1987-88 to 1999-2000 (Revised)," p. 10. See http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002603.pdf. 21 National Center for Education Statistics (1999), Highlights from TIMSS. See http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999081.pdf. 22 National Center for Education Statistics (2005), "International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving: PISA 2003 Results from the U.S. Perspective," pp. 15 & 29 See http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005003.pdf. 23 The Business Roundtable. 2006. "Innovation and U.S. Competitiveness: Addressing the Talent Gap Public Opinion Research." January 12. Available at: http://www.businessroundtable.org/pdf/20060112Two-pager.pdf 24 American Academy of Pediatrics. "Television- How it Affects Children." Available at http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZGF8VOQ7C.htm?&sub_cat=1 The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that "Children in the United States watch about four hours of TV every day", this works out to be 1460 hours per year. 25 National Center for Education Statistics. 2005. The Condition of Education. Table 26-2 Average Number of Instructional Hours Per Year Spent in Public School, By Age or Grade of Student and Country: 2000 and 2001. Available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2005/section4/table.asp?tableID=284. NCES reports that in 2000 US 15 year-olds spent 990 hours in school, during the same year 4th graders spent 1040 hours. 26 National Center for Education Statistic (2006), “Public Elementary and Secondary Students, Staff, Schools, and School Analysis conducted by the Association of American Universities. 2006. National Defense Education and Innovation 28 National Science Board. 2004. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NSB 04-01). Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. Chapter 2 Figure 2-23. 29 National Science Board. 2004. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NSB 04-01). Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation 30 G. Gereffi and V. Wadhwa. 2005. Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate: Placing the United States on a Level Playing Field with China and India. See http://memp.pratt.duke.edu/downloads/duke_outsourcing_2005.pdf. 31 Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). 2004. Chinese Statistical Yearbook 2004. People's Republic of China, Chapter 21, Table 21-11. Available at http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/statisticaldata/yearlydata/yb2004-e/indexeh.htm. The extent to which engineering degrees from China are comparable to those from the United States is uncertain. 32 NASSCOM. 2005. Strategic Review 2005. National Association of Software and Service Companies, India. Chapter 6. Sustaining the India Advantage. Available at: http://www.nasscom.org/strategic 2005.asp 33 National Center for Education Statistics. 2004. Digest of Education Statistics 2004. Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education, Washington DC, Table 250. Available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_250.asp. 34 Myles Boylan. (2004) Assessing Changes in Student Interest in Engineering Careers Over the Last Decade. CASEE, National Academy of Engineering. Available at http://www.nae.edu/NAE/caseecomnew.nsf/weblinks/NFOY6GHJ7B/$file/Engineering%20Interest%20-%20HS%20through%20College_V21.pdf; Clifford Adelman. (1998) Women and Men on the Engineering Path: A Model for Analysis of Undergraduate Careers. Washington DC: US Department of Education. See http://www.nae.edu/nae/diversity.com.nsf/98b72da8aad70f1785256da20053deaf/85256cfb00484b5c85256da000002f83/$FIL E/Adelman_Women_and_Men_of_the_Engineering_Path.pdf). According to this Department of Education analysis, the majority of students who switch from engineering majors complete a major in business or other non-science and engineering fields. 35 National Center for Education Statistics Digest of Education Statistics. The American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. 36 Spencer Stuart. 2005. “2004 CEO Study: A Statistical Snapshot of Leading CEOs." Available at http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/Statistical_Snapshot_of_Leading_CEOs_relB3.pdf#search=ceo%20educat ional%20background'. 37 US research and development spending in 2001 was $273.6 billion, of which industry performed $194 billion and funded about $184 billion. National Science Board. 2004. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NSB 04-01). Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. One estimate of tort litigation costs in the United States was $205 billion in 2001. Jeremey A. Leonard. 2003. “How Structural Costs Imposed on U.S. Manufacturers Harm Workers and Threaten Competitiveness." Prepared for the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers. Availbale at http://www.nam.org/s_nam/bin.asp?CID=216&DID=227525&DOC=FILE.PDF. 38 US Patent and Trademark Office 2006, USPTO Annual List of Top 10 Organizations Receiving Most U.S. Patents. January 10, 2006. See http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/06-03.htm 39 CERN. Internet Homepage. http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html. 40 AAAS. 2004. “Trends in Federal Research by Discipline, FY 1976-2004." October. Available at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/disc04tb.pdf and http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/discip04c.pdf 41 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 2005. National Heath Expenditures. Available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf 42 In: Wallace, Kathryn. 2005. “America's Brain Drain Crisis Why Our Best Scientists are Disappearing, and What's Really at Stake." Readers Digest. December. 43 Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Former Chairman, IBM in The Teaching Commission. 2004. Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action. New York: City University of New York. See www.theteachingcommission.org. 44 Remarks by Jeffrey R. Immelt to Economic Club of Washington as reported in Irwin, Neil. 2006. “US Needs More Engineers, GE Chief Says." Washington Post. January 23, 2006. 45 Craig Barrett. 2006. Comments at public briefing on the release of The Gathering Storm report. October 12, 2005. See http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20051012.html. 46 Bill Gates. 2005. Speech to the National Education Summit on High Schools. February 26. Available at http://www.gatesfoundation.org/MediaCenter/Speeches/Billg Speeches/BGSpeechNGA-050226.htm 47 William Jefferson Clinton. 'Commencement Address at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland." May 18, 1997 Government Printing Office. 1997 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Books I and II. Available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/wjclinton.html 48 Remarks by President George W. Bush in Meeting with High-Tech Leaders. March 28, 2001. Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010328-2.html. 1 A DISTURBING MOSAIC1 In The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,2 Thomas Friedman asserts that the international economic playing field is now "more level" than it has ever been.3 The causes of this "flattening" include easier access to information technology and rising technical competences abroad that have made it possible for US companies to locate call centers in India, coordinate the complex supply chains and work flows that enable manufacturing in China, and conduct "back office" service functions abroad. It is not uncommon for radiologists in India, for example, to read x-ray pictures of patients in US hospitals. Architects in the United States have their drawings made in Brazil. Software is written for US firms in Bangalore. Ireland has successfully put into place a set of policies to attract companies and their research activities, as has Finland. The European Union is actively pursuing policies to enhance the innovation environment, as are Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and many other countries. Friedman argues that, despite the dangers, a flat world is on balance a good thing— economically and geopolitically. Lower costs benefit consumers and shareholders in developed countries, and the rising middle class in India and China will become consumers of those countries' products as well as ours. That same rising middle class will have a stake in the "frictionless" flow of international commerce--and hence in stability, peace, and the rule of law. Such a desirable state, writes Friedman, will not be achieved without problems, and whether global flatness is good for a particular country depends on whether that country is prepared to compete on the global playing field, which is as rough and tumble as it is level. 1Major portions of this chapter were adapted from an article of the same name by Wm. A. Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering in the fall 2005 issue of The Bridge, a journal of the National Academies. 2T. L. Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. An alternative point of view is presented in Box 1-1 |