TRENDS AND PATTERNS IN RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURES IN THE UNITED-STATES

This paper is a review of recent trends in United States expenditures on research and development (R&D). Real expenditures by both the gover nment and the private sector increased rapidly between the mid-1970s a nd the mid-1980s, and have since leveled off, This is true of both ove rall expenditures and expenditures on basic research, as well as fundi ng of academic research. Preliminary estimates indicate that about $17 0 billion was spent on R&D in the United States in 1995, with approxim ate to 60% of that funding coming from the private sector and about 35 % from the federal government. In comparison to other countries, we ha ve historically spent more on R&D relative to our economy than other a dvanced economies, but this advantage appears to be disappearing, If d efense-related R&D is excluded, our expenditures relative to the size of the economy are considerably smaller than those of other similar ec onomies.