Fact of the Week: US R&D Is Estimated To Have Increased to $792 Billion in 2021

R&D intensity of the United States federal government, measured as R&D investment relative to GDP, experienced a marked decline, from 0.62 percent to 0.28 percent.

Fact of the Week: The Federal Government’s R&D Intensity Has Fallen by 50 Percent Since 1964

Fact of the Week: The Federal Government's R&D Intensity Has Fallen by 50 Percent Since 1964

Although Congress made permanent the research and development tax credit in 2015, the federal government and states still can do more—a 10 percent increase in R&D tax credit generosity permanently increases labor productivity by 0.4 percent per year, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: Increasing R&D Tax Credit by 10 Percent Could Boost Labor Productivity Growth by 0.4 Percent Per Year

U.S. society captured four-fifths of the total returns on R&D (with the private sector gaining one-fifth) in the 2010s, up from three-fourths in the 1980s, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: The Ratio of Societal to Private Returns From Investment in R&D Increased From 3:1 in 1980 to 4:1 in 2015

Proponents of R&D tax credits argue that reducing the costs businesses face to innovate encourages them to invest more into R&D. A recent study of county-level data between 1990 and 2010 provides evidence to support this argument.

Fact of the Week: Implementing an R&D Tax Credit Increases a State’s Rate of Business Formation by 7.5 Percent

Fact of the Week: Implementing an R&D Tax Credit Increases a State's Rate of Business Formation by 7.5 Percent

Federal spending on R&D has spurred job creation, directly and indirectly supporting more than 1.6 million jobs in 2018, according to a recent report that PWC prepared for Breakthrough Energy.

Fact of the Week: US Investment in R&D Supported 1.6 Million Jobs in 2018

Defense spending is the main source of public R&D investment in the United States, totaling $78 billion in 2016. A new study examines the impacts of defense R&D investment by leveraging the dramatic increases in defense R&D investment across the OECD in the years following 2001.

Fact of the Week: A 10 Percent Increase in Public Investment in Defense R&D Increases Private R&D Investment by 4.3 Percent

A working paper indicates that the rate of return on R&D is between 150 to 300 percent, implying that there has been historical underinvestment in R&D for nondefense use.

Fact of the Week: Public Investments in Nondefense R&D Have Rates of Return Between 150 to 300 Percent

Between 2022 and 2023, R&D investment in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations grew by 2.4 percent, a slowdown from the 3.6 percent growth the previous year.

Fact of the Week: US R&D Value Added Has Increased by 63 Percent from 2013 to 2023

Related

Fact of the Week: US R&D Is Estimated To Have Increased to $792 Billion in 2021

Fact of the Week: The Federal Government’s R&D Intensity Has Fallen by 50 Percent Since 1964

Fact of the Week: Increasing R&D Tax Credit by 10 Percent Could Boost Labor Productivity Growth by 0.4 Percent Per Year