The effects of science on national economic development, 1970 to 1990

Expanded scientific activity is thought to benefit national economic develo pment through improved labor force capacities and the creation of new knowl edge and technology However, scientific research activity expands as a glob al process and reflects the penetration of societies by a general rationali stic world culture. The authors point out that scientific expansion and the accompanying cultural penetration legitimate a broad progressive agenda of social amelioration (e.g., by identifying environmental and health problem s, and social welfare and human rights issues) that can result in regulatio n and direct constraints on productive economic activity in the short term. Thus, science can be seen as encouraging a trade-off between short-term ec onomic growth and broader (and longer-term) social development. The effects of dimensions of scientific infrastructure on national economic growth are examined over the 1970-1990 period. Cross-national analyses show that the size of a nation's scientific labor force and training has a positive effec t on economic development, supporting conventional theories. However, indic ators of national involvement in scientific research activity show negative effects on economic growth. Corollory analyses show that this negative eff ect is partially explained by the expansion of scientific activity into mor e socially relevant domains (e.g., medicine, environmental sciences, etc.), thus supporting the main arguments.