Science by Consensus: Eliciting Citizens’ and Experts’ R&D Spending Priorities

Francesco Capozza, Krishna Srinivasan and Mattie Toma

No 12235, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Research and development (R&D) is thought to be an important determinant of improvements in living standards, health, and economic security. Yet, U.S. government spending on R&D has fallen over time, with further cuts proposed. Two standard rationalizations for such cuts are: (i) citizens support such cuts, and (ii) the marginal social return from R&D is low. We test these using surveys with U.S. citizens and experts. Our evidence rejects both: a large majority of citizens do not favor cuts and, on the contrary, prefer increasing R&D spending; and a large majority of experts judge the marginal social returns from increasing R&D spending to be high, with the average belief placing benefits at about $3 per dollar invested. Experts underestimate public support, indicating that they misperceive the political feasibility of increasing R&D spending.

Keywords: R&D; government spending priorities; government budget; experts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D7 H4 H5 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-inv
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12235

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