What if Congress doubled R&D spending on the physical sciences?

Van Reenen, John ORCID: 0000-0001-9153-2907 and Freeman, Richard B. (2009) What if Congress doubled R&D spending on the physical sciences? CEP Discussion Papers (931). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

Many business, academic, and scientific groups have recommended that the Congress substantially increase R&D spending in the near future. President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative calls for a doubling of spending over the next decade in selected agencies that deal with the physical sciences, including the National Science Foundation. We consider the rationale for government R&D spending in the context of globalization and as an investment in human capital and knowledge creation with gestation times far longer than Federal funding cycles. To assess the impact of a large increase in R&D spending on the science job market, we examine the impact of the 1998- 2003 doubling of the NIH budget on the bio-medical sciences. We find that the rapid increase in NIH spending and ensuing deceleration created substantial adjustment problems in the market for research and failed to address long-standing problems with scientific careers that are likely to deter many young people from choosing a scientific career. We argue that because research simultaneously produces knowledge and add to the human capital of researchers, which has greater value for young scientists because of their longer future career life span than to older scientists, there is reason for funding agencies to tilt their awards to younger researchers.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?...
Additional Information:	© 2009 the authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance Economics
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J45 - Public Sector Labor Markets O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O30 - General J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J23 - Employment Determination; Job Creation; Demand for Labor; Self-Employment
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2009 15:16
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/25478

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