Science and R&D

The Case for Improving America’s Research and Experimentation Tax Credit
As recently as the mid-1990s, the United States maintained the most generous R&D tax incentive in the world. As scholarly studies have shown, that helped America stay ahead of its competitors by boosting R&D investment, innovation, jobs, and GDP growth. Fast forward to today, and it’s a very different picture.
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Science and R&D
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September 19, 2019
What Do We Know About Environmental Innovation?
Climate change, pollution, and the economy’s sensitivity to energy prices all make continued environmental innovation a key priority.
September 12, 2019
Why Federal R&D Policy Needs to Prioritize Productivity to Drive Growth and Reduce the Debt-to-GDP Ratio
The federal government should significantly increase spending on research and development that specifically targets technologies likely to boost productivity in order to spur growth and reduce the budget deficit.
September 9, 2019
The Link Between Drug Prices and Research on the Next Generation of Cures
Academic studies consistently show that a reduction in current drug revenues leads to a fall in future research and the number of new drug discoveries.
August 28, 2019
How the U.S. Government Falters on Support for Innovation
If the U.S. economy is to regain its international competitiveness, especially vis-à-vis China, it will have to accelerate innovation, including in advanced-industry production.
August 26, 2019
Fact of the Week: Every Dollar Canadian Firms Invested in R&D Between 2000 and 2012 Added Another 33 Cents to the Rest of the Economy
When a business makes a new discovery, it cannot capture all the profits for itself, because competitors can replicate the discovery or use it to pursue their own new research opportunities. This positive spillover effect doesn’t provide an incentive for businesses to invest in R&D, but it helps the rest of society, which is one reason why governments subsidize R&D investments.
August 12, 2019
Federal Support for R&D Continues Its Ignominious Slide
The United States is continuing to drift in the wrong direction when it comes to federal funding for research and development (R&D).
August 2, 2019
Making R&D Great Again
As Rob Atkinson writes for IndustryWeek, both Congress and the administration have an opportunity to once again ensure that America leads in the world in R&D support.
May 2, 2019
Do Tax Policies Spur Innovation?
A recent literature review by a noted innovation economist summarizes some of the available evidence and finds that tax credits produce more private R&D along with strong social benefits, and patent boxes can help countries retain the intellectual property they produce.
April 1, 2019
Fact of the Week: EU Initiative That Co-Finances Loans for Risky R&D Projects Induced 14 Times the Initiative's Investments Between 2007 and 2016
The European Union in 2007 established the Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) to improve access to debt financing for high-risk R&D projects by co-financing loans with private banks. A new study has analyzed the impact of the €18.2 billion that the RSFF invested from its inception through 2016.
March 25, 2019
Fact of the Week: Firms that Significantly Reduce Executive Stock Options Have 66 Percent Lower R&D Investment Two Years Later
Aligning executive incentives such as stock options with firms’ long-term growth objectives is crucial for promoting innovation. A new study examined the magnitude of this effect, focusing on a 2005 change in tax regulations that made providing stock options more expensive.

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