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Does Government R&D Policy Mainly Benefit Scientists and Engineers?

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  • Austan Goolsbee

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that the social rate of return to R&D significantly exceeds the private rate of return and, therefore, R&D should be subsidized. In the U.S., the government has directly funded a large fraction of total R&D spending. This paper shows that there is a serious problem with such government efforts to increase inventive activity. The majority of R&D spending is actually just salary payments for R&D workers. Their labor supply, however, is quite inelastic so when the government funds R&D, a significant fraction of the increased spending goes directly into higher wages. Using CPS data on wages of scientific personnel, this paper shows that government R&D spending raises wages significantly, particularly for scientists related to defense such as physicists and aeronautical engineers. Because of the higher wages, conventional estimates of the effectiveness of R&D policy may be 30 to 50% too high. The results also imply that by altering the wages of scientists and engineers even for firms not receiving federal support, government funding directly crowds out private inventive activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Austan Goolsbee, 1998. "Does Government R&D Policy Mainly Benefit Scientists and Engineers?," NBER Working Papers 6532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6532
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    1. James M. Poterba, 1983. "Tax Subsidies to Owner-occupied Housing: An Asset Market Approach," Working papers 339, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    2. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    3. Ryoo, J. & Rosen, S., 1992. "The Market for Engineers," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 92-10, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
      • Ryoo, Jaewoo & Rosen, Sherwin, 1992. "The Market for Engineers," Working Papers 83, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War

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