Public Policy 290: Cyberlife

Engin 298A-017 (CCN 27942)

Engin 198-003 (CCN 27945)

3 units

PUBLIC POLICY FOR ENGINEERS

Syllabus

DESCRIPTION: Successful engineers have always known that shrewd choice of incentives and institutions can be just as important as technical excellence. This course will introduce students to the powerful concepts that social scientists have developed to think about technology issues. Topics will include intellectual property and the "New Economy," alternative innovation incentives (e.g. open source), public support for science, antitrust, public perception and regulation of risk, homeland security, and pharmaceutical R&D for the developing world. The course will feature frequent guest lectures by faculty from UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Course requirements will include a midterm, final, and policy analysis "White Paper."

INSTRUCTOR: Stephen Maurer

OFFICE HOURS: 302 GSPP Fri 9-10

LECTURES: Hearst Mining Bldg, Rm. 290 – Tues. 4-7pm

REQUIREMENTS: Grades in this course will be based on a Mid-Term, Group Policy Analysis (“White Paper”), and Class Participation:

-- MIDTERM (40%). The mid-term will last one hour and twenty minutes. It will cover the first half of the course.

-- WHITE PAPER (60%). Students will be asked to form 4 – 6 member teams to perform an in-depth policy analysis of a particular topic. The goal of the analysis is to provide neutral, evidence-based advice reviewing the options that face decision-makers in a particular policy area. A partial list of White Paper topics is included at list. Student groups are encouraged to suggest and pursue additional topics with the instructor’s permission. All White Papers will be due on April 25. Team members should divide the task so that each is “lead author” for one or more “chapters.” However, teams should avoid “staple jobs” in which each student ignores what the others have written. White Paper quality will be judged, inter alia, on how well the evidence and logical arguments found in individual chapters fit together to produce a coherent overall document. Substantial library research will normally be required. Students are strongly recommended to focus on problems that feature substantial interactions between social incentives and technology.

Each White Paper group will present a brief description of its results during the final class session. The quality of this presentation will be included in the overall White Paper grade.

-- CLASS PARTICIPATION: Class participation will primarily be conducted through an on-line “Wiki.” Participation is strongly encouraged and may be used to adjust your grade at the instructor`s discretion.

January 17

Lecture: Introduction: From Engineering to Social Engineering. The Incentives Picture. Introduction to IP Law.

No Readings.

January 24

Lecture: History of Innovation. Patents. Patent Thickets & The Anticommons. International IP Treaties.

Required Readings: S. Scotchmer, Innovation & Incentives (2004) Chs. 1 and 3 (handout).

Recommended Readings: Gerth and Stolberg, "Drug Makers Reap Profits On Tax-Backed Research" New York Times (April 23, 2000, p. 1.1)

January 31

Lecture: Beyond Patents: Prizes, Contracts & Grants. Database Protection.

Guest Lecture: Prof. Suzanne Scotchmer (Grants Model).

Required Readings: Maurer and Scotchmer, Database Protection: Is it Broken and Should we Fix it, Science May 16, 1999; S. Maurer & S. Scotchmer, `Procuring Knowledge,` NBER Working Paper 9903 (2003) (somewhat technical - read for sense of argument & especially discussion of grant incentives).
Recommended Readings: ; Maurer, et al, Science`s Neglected Legacy, Nature 11 May 2000, p117

February 7

Lecture: Open Source: Incentives, Stability & Welfare Implications. From Computing to Biology?

Required Readings: Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, “The Economics of Technology Sharing: Open Source and Beyond” NBER Working Paper 10956 (2004); S. Maurer, A. Sali & A. Rai. 2004. “Finding Cures for Tropical Disease: Is Open Source the Answer?,” Public Library of Science: Medicine 1:56-58.

Recommended Readings: Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, “The Simple Economics of Open Source,” Journal of Industrial Economics, 52: 197-234 (2002); also available as NBER Working Paper 7600.

February 14

Lecture: Government Science Policy. Academic Incentives. Guest Lecturer: John Ellwood (Advising Congress).

Required Readings: R. Florida, “The Role of the University: Leveraging Talent, Not Technology,” Issues in Science and Technology 15:4 (1999); E. Press & J. Washburn, “The Kept University,” The Atlantic (March 2000) (handout). James Verdier, Advising Congressional Decision-Makers: Guidelines for Ecoomists, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 3:421-438 (1984).

Recommended Readings: S. Maurer, “Promoting and Disseminating Knowledge: The Public/Private Interface,” paper commissioned by the US National Academy of Sciences (2002); Campbell, E., Clarridge, B., Gokhale, M., Birenbaum, L., Hilgartner, S., Holtzman, N., Blumenthal, D. 2002. "Data Witholding in Academic Genetics: Evidence from a National Survey.'' Journal of the American Medical Association 287:473; R. F. Service, “Bell Labs Fires Star Physicst Found Guilty of Forging Data,” Science 298, 30 (2002); C. Seife, “Heavy-Element Fizzle Laid to Falsified Data,” Science 297, 313 (2002); Robert F. Service, “More of Bell Labs Physicist’s Papers Retracted,” Science 299:31 (2003)

February 21

Lecture: Grand Challenge Problems. Neglected Disease Research.

Required Readings: S. Maurer, “When Patents Fail: Finding New Drugs for the Developing World,” International Conference on Pharmaceutical Innovation (Taipei) (2005)

Recommended Readings: M. Kremer & R. Glennerster, Strong Medicine: Creating Incnetives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases (2004); Advanced Markets Working Group, Making Markets for Vaccines: A Practical Plan (DRAFT: 2005).

February 28

Lecture: The New Economy: Network Effects. Theory and Tactics.

Required Readings: M. Katz & C. Shapiro, “Systems Competition and Network Effects,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 4(8), 1994, pp. 93-115.

Recommended Readings: S. Scotchmer Innovation & Incentives (2004) Ch. 10.

March 7

Lecture: Antitrust in the Old Economy.

Required Readings: Church and R. Ware, Industrial Organization, McGraw-Hill 2000, pp 889-900 (handout);
Letter from Abbott Lipsky re IBM Litigation (“The Transformation of Monopolization Law,” 60 Texas Law Rev, p.639+ (handout).

Recommended Readings:

March 14

Lecture: Antitrust in the New Economy. The Microsoft Case

Required Readings: US v. Microsoft(2001).

Recommended Readings: Richard Gilbert and Michael Katz An Economist’s Guide to U.S. v. Microsoft

On-Line Lecture: You can find an abbreviated on-line antitrust lecture at http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590/04au/lectures/.

March 21

Midterm (80 minutes).

Lecture: Regulation

March 28

Spring Break

April 4

Discussion & Review; White Paper Discussion; Introduction to Bioweapons Policy

April 11

Special Session: UC Berkeley Town Hall Meeting: Synthetic Biology and Biosecurity

April 18

Guest Lecture: Prof. Michael O'Hare: "Hazardous Facility Siting: Not in My Backyard!"; Midterm

April 25

Lecture: Engineers in Court and in the Government; Public Perception of Risk.

Required Readings: Faigman, “Is Science Different for Lawyers?” Science 297, pp. 339-340 (2002); Meg Green, Food fright: potentially faced with a high tab for fast-food lawsuits, insurers crave information about current litigation. Best's Review, August 2003 v104 i4 p24(10)

Recommended Readings: Loftus, Elizabeth, On Science Under Legal Assault, Daedulus Fall 2003, 82-84. and interview in Psychology Today; Foster and Huber, Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997).