Eh.Res- QWERTY Summary
The preceding forum discussion on path dependency elicited many debates over the Dvorak vs. QWERTY keyboard. Specifically, is this an instance where a relatively less efficient outcome resulted due to the "path" taken? How do we know? George Grantham provides a brief summary of the QWERTY debate on March 3, 1998:
"The latest flare-up on the QWERTY question has the merit at least of exposing the economist historian’s schizophrenia with respect to the problem of historical explanations. The bottom line for most economists is policy, not explanation of unique events. It was inevitable that the QWERTY paradigm, factually correct or not, would become an issue in the endless debate between those who think the market outcome is about the best we can expect under most circumstances, and those who think we might be able to be better under some circumstances."
One issue raised by Michael Perelman and subsequently by Akira Motomura is the government’s promotion of technology. In essence, a government could "lock-in" to a technology, hoping that the technology becomes the most efficient. However, this is not without its own problems. Phillip Coelho cites two such problems in his August 15, 1997 posting. First, "[g]overnments are conservative, they act to protect existing constituencies, not potential ones. Governments are much more likely to protect an existing producer from competition using the ‘lock-in’ effect…." Second, what constitutes a "better" technology and when do you know when you have it? Lawrence Boyd responds by indicating that the government has been making decisions on what is "better" technology. He offers air mail delivery and nuclear power as examples, (August 19, 1997).
Although there is no governmental "lock-in" to QWERTY keyboards per se, the absence of Dvorak keyboards suggests QWERTY dominates. Nevertheless, do we know if one keyboard is more efficient? In the case of QWERTY, can we answer Deirdre McCloskey’s June 30, 1999 call for a quantitative analysis? Douglas Puffert states that Dvorak was found to be 2-10% more efficient than QWERTY based on numerous studies, (November 30, 1999).
If DVORAK is more efficient, then why do we not use it? Brad DeLong says that "no one has ever tried to find out because, given the standard, the relative efficiency of alternatives is largely irrelevant," (February 28, 1998). Related to this topic is the suggestion that the QWERTY layout was developed before the teaching of a touch-type method of typing. As Jack Goldstone notes on March 3, 1998:
"…QWERTY was just one of trillions of trillions of possible combinations that was chosen without much regard to its effect on touch-typing speed (which seems most likely if touch-typing was unknown at the time), then there is NO prima facie reason to believe that a search for a better layout would be profitable."
The following is a list of the QWERTY responses listed in the forum. I have indicated which postings are unrelated to the forum discussion:
Mary Schweitzer (Fri Aug 08 1997 - 02:43:42 EDT) Jim Bessen (Fri Aug 08 1997 - 11:02:42 EDT) Alan M. Taylor (Fri Aug 08 1997 - 13:33:39 EDT) Mary Schweitzer (Fri Aug 08 1997 - 15:59:29 EDT) Warren C. Whatley (Sun Aug 10 1997 - 23:10:31 EDT) Peter Boettke (Sun Aug 10 1997 - 23:10:31 EDT) Mary Schweitzer (Tue Aug 12 1997 - 16:37:18 EDT) Michael Perelman (Wed Aug 13 1997 - 13:24:41 EDT)EH.R: Request for bibliography on public policy
Mary Schweitzer (Thu Aug 14 1997 - 17:05:19 EDT) Akira Motomura (Thu Aug 14 1997 - 17:05:19 EDT) Philip R. P. Coelho (Fri Aug 15 1997 - 15:51:50 EDT) William Boyd (Mon Aug 18 1997 - 16:48:13 EDT) William Boyd (Tue Aug 19 1997 - 01:51:19 EDT)EH.R: O'Brien's review of _The End of Economics_ by Perelman
Alan M. Taylor (Thu Aug 21 1997 - 03:27:41 EDT)Last message date:
Sat Aug 23 1997 - 03:59:29 EDTThe following is a list of the QWERTY responses not listed, but should be:
February 1998:
Alan M. Taylor (Fri Feb 27 1998 - 14:52:15 EST) Paul A. David (Fri Feb 27 1998 - 14:55:05 EST) Brad De Long (Sat Feb 28 1998 - 22:41:36 EST)March 1998:
Starting:
Sun Mar 01 1998 - 22:41:19 EST
December 1998:
EH.R: Qwerty and the Economics of the Millennium Bug
Paul A. David (Thu Dec 17 1998 - 11:13:05 EST)EH.R: Qwerty and the Economics of the Millennium Bug
D. McCloskey (Thu Dec 17 1998 - 16:40:44 EST)EH.R: Qwerty and the Economics of the Millennium Bug
Michael McCully (Sat Dec 19 1998 - 20:41:11 EST)EH.R: Qwerty and the Economics of the Millennium Bug
Jim Bessen (Tue Dec 22 1998 - 08:47:11 EST)April 1999:
P. A. David (Thu Apr 15 1999 - 12:50:18 EDT) * An article that was written on QWERTY and responses to the article. John Howard Brown (Thu Apr 15 1999 - 14:31:18 EDT) D. McCloskey (Thu Apr 15 1999 - 16:10:40 EDT)EH.R: Qwerty and Myth-makers--Reposting
Joshua L. Rosenbloom (Fri Apr 16 1999 - 10:49:50 EDT)June 1999:
Jack Goldstone (Tue Jun 29 1999 - 12:46:43 EDT) Brad De Long (Tue Jun 29 1999 - 12:58:39 EDT) Lawrence W. Boyd (Tue Jun 29 1999 - 20:35:11 EDT) Brian.Wixted@affa.gov.au (Tue Jun 29 1999 - 20:39:33 EDT) carsten@uconnvm.uconn.edu (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 11:22:27 EDT) Steve Cullenberg (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 20:18:14 EDT) D. McCloskey (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 20:22:25 EDT)EH.R: QWERTY, Lighthouses, and path-dependence
Joshua L. Rosenbloom (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 11:41:22 EDT)EH.R: QWERTY, Lighthouses, and path-dependence
Anthony Patrick O'Brien (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 20:21:05 EDT)EH.R: QWERTY, Lighthouses, and path-dependence
D. McCloskey (Wed Jun 30 1999 - 20:24:43 EDT)July 1999:
EH.R: QWERTY, Lighthouses, and path-dependence
Joshua L. Rosenbloom (Thu Jul 01 1999 - 16:19:52 EDT) carsten@uconnvm.uconn.edu (Thu Jul 01 1999 - 17:48:52 EDT)EH.R: Trinity House, Coase, David, Qwerty, et cetera
Jerry Dwyer (Fri Jul 02 1999 - 12:12:30 EDT)EH.R: Trinity House, Coase, David, Qwerty, et cetera
William Sjostrom (Tue Jul 13 1999 - 11:33:40 EDT) John Treacy (Sun Jul 04 1999 - 18:25:54 EDT)
November 1999:
EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
Joshua L. Rosenbloom (Tue Nov 09 1999 - 12:45:07 EST)EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
Kenneth Lipartito (Thu Nov 18 1999 - 18:54:59 EST)EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
Douglas Puffert (Sun Nov 21 1999 - 11:24:00 EST)EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
William Sjostrom (Sun Nov 21 1999 - 11:37:18 EST)EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
Jim Bessen (Mon Nov 22 1999 - 09:44:04 EST)Re: EH.R: More on QWERTY from Paul David
Peter G. Klein (Tue Nov 09 1999 - 17:58:20 EST)EH.R: Peter Klein hits the QWERTY key on the head
D. McCloskey (Tue Nov 09 1999 - 19:05:55 EST)
December 1999:
Philip R. P. Coelho (Wed Dec 01 1999 - 20:21:36 EST) Jack Goldstone (Thu Dec 02 1999 - 08:11:20 EST) John Howard Brown (Thu Dec 02 1999 - 09:14:17 EST) Emily Mechner (Thu Dec 02 1999 - 15:29:41 EST)