Large-Scale Investment in Science: Economic Impact and Social Justice

Science is not a free lunch. Worldwide, R&D expenditures per year, from basic research to product development by firms, are about USD1.7 trillion (according to UNESCO estimates for 2017). There are perhaps 7.8 million professional researchers globally, around one researcher out of one thousand inhabitants of the planet. In the OECD area, which includes the most developed economies, government R&D spending is worth about USD 315 billion per year and the share of government of the total R&D expenditures is 28%. Hence, citizens support research in two ways: firstly, as consumers by paying a price for goods and services which in turn include in their production costs such expenditures; secondly, by paying taxes which support government R&D expenditures, mostly for basic science. In this short essay, I discuss two questions: What is the economic impact of basic research? What are the implications for social justice of the interplay between -on one side- government funded science and -on the other side- R&D supported by business? I will argue that the ultimate economic impact of large-scale investment in basic research is often (but not always) positive (i.e. benefits are greater than costs). There is, however, a potential concern for social justice arising from the private appropriation by business of rents arising from knowledge as a public good.