THE ELECTRIC-LAMP INDUSTRY

byArthur A. Bright Jr. '39. The MacmillanCo., 1949, 526 pp., $7.50.

An invention is something that catches the imagination of us all. However, the process through which it passes to successive stages of development and commercial adaptation is an equally exciting story about which we know all too little. Arthur Bright's analysis of The Electric-Lamp Industry is a stimulating pioneer study of this process—of the human forces and institutional factors which combine to set the course of development for one of our modern necessities.

Mr. Bright's work is one of five studies of the economics of science and engineering undertaken, with the aid of the Rockefeller Foundation, by members of the Faculty of M.I.T. The objectives of these studies are as follows: How has the process of innovation been influenced by cartelization, tariffs, and anti-trust legislation? Are there barriers to innovation in the concentration of power in a few large concerns and in our patent system? What has been the role of key personalities in creating change?

Mr. Bright's answers to these questions follow his brilliant analysis of the social forces determining the development of the electriclamp and the rate at which technological improvements were introduced. The reader will be impressed by the scholarly research which took Mr. Bright from the libraries into the offices of the contemporary industry. One must admire his skill in distilling this vast amount of evidence and formulating his conclusions.

Mr. Bright's book is a significant contribution to our knowledge of the electric-lamp industry and, more important, of the forces working for and against progress in a freeenterprise economy. We have needed it for a long time. It should be read by all who want this economy to be an effective instrument for improving the well being of man.