Re: R&D spending

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Devine wrote:

> According an article a friend gave me (which seems to be from BARRON'S),
> private-sector "R&D spending in the 1990s has been dramatically on the
> upswing" in the US.
>
> Is this true? (Doug?)
>
> also, isn't it true that US private-sector R&D spending has shifted toward
> more narrowly profit-promoting projects, away from more basic science?

I haven't checked for the very latest numbers, but as of 1996/7, R&D
spending was pretty flat (as a % of GDP), with a slight shift away
from R and towards D, and a shift from "defense" to civilian. Since
the computer industry and the Internet are the offsprings of
"defense" R&D, this might not be the triumph of conversion that it
looks like at first glance.

Doug