Source: Conor Gowder, “Useful Stats: How Has The Relationship Between GDP and R&D Changed Since the 1950s?” (SSTI, March 26, 2026).
Commentary: R&D investment, in absolute terms, has risen dramatically over the past several decades, increasing approximately 1,670 percent since 1955 when adjusted for inflation. However, growth in absolute terms doesn’t consider the level of economic growth that has occurred over the same period, because as the economy grows, R&D investment should, theoretically, increase proportionally. R&D intensity in the United States, measured as R&D investment relative to GDP, has also increased over this period, but at a much slower rate. From 1964 to 2024, R&D intensity grew by 22 percent. This growth was driven largely by the business sector, which saw its R&D intensity grow from 1.9 percent to 2.6 percent, while the federal government’s R&D intensity experienced a marked decline, from 0.62 percent to 0.28 percent, a more than 50 percent decline.
