New post! Frequently Asked Questions about US Government Funding for R&D.
Short answers in the thread, longer answers at the link in the replies.
Short answers in the thread, longer answers at the link in the replies.
Comments
The US government spent ~$160bn on R&D in 2022, about 2.6% of government spending. As a share of GDP or federal spending, federal support for R&D has declined for decades.
About 75% of R&D spending is split roughly evenly between the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services (mostly NIH). About 75% of the rest is split between the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Science Foundation.
Averaged across govt, the private sector, and non-profits, the ROI is probably about $5.50 for every dollar of R&D, if you focus only on GDP. If you put a dollar value on other benefits of R&D, I think $11 is reasonable.
There is some suggestive evidence that the ROI of all R&D has declined since the early 2000s, though it still remains the case that a dollar of R&D probably generates several dollars worth of economic growth benefits.