It is well established that business R&D investments produce benefits not just for the company making them, but for the overall society due to knowledge spillovers. Such spillovers mean that businesses underinvest in R&D from a societal perspective. They are also the main reason why governments provide incentives for the private sector to invest more in R&D.
New economic research finds that in the United States society captured four-fifths of the total returns (with the private sector gaining one-fifth) in the 2010s, up from three-fourths in the 1980s. This research underscores the importance of stronger incentives, like the R&D tax credit and the “innovation box” if societies are to reduce the underinvestment in R&D.
