Building the algorithm commons: Who discovered the algorithms that underpin computing in the modern enterprise?

Recent work has revealed rapid improvement in the algorithms that underpin modern computing. For many computations, these algorithmic innovations have been more important than those in computer hardware (including Moore’s Law, which is known to have substantially improved firm productivity). I

The article by Neil C. Thompson, Shuning Ge, and Yash M. Sherry analyzes who built the “Algorithmic Commons”. They find that the United States has been the largest contributor to these public goods, with universities and large private labs (e.g. IBM) playing the biggest role.

More broadly, they find a historical pattern of contributions consistent with world geopolitics, where the United States took algorithmic leadership in the post-war period, but that this has faded in recent decades as Europe recovered and then Asia grew.

Access the full argumentation and the graphs that represents the analysis here