If the government does not intervene to promote specific industries, will the Unites States fall behind in key technologies? Activists argue that the U.S. government must match the aggressive high-tech programs being tried abroad.

The study concludes that the HDTV case--the activists' model for promoting technological competitiveness--ironically confirms the misgivings of skeptics and demonstrates the flaws in industrial policy. HDTV activists have exaggerated the strategic national importance of the industry, overstated the threats from the HDTV programs abroad, and miscalculated the pace and shape of technological advance in electronics. They have distracted attention from policy issues more important to the development and diffusion of advanced technologies.

Cynthia A. Beltz is a research associate at AEI.