The Economic Significance of the UK Science Base A REPORT FOR THE CAMPAIGN FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

This paper reports on some key indicators of the economic significance of the science base. We ask first what the effects of state funding of the science base are. In particular, we ask how state funding of the science base in the UK affects private sector involvement, including the R&D location decisions of multinational firms. We then ask how public science funding affects private sector productivity. We find evidence that public sector funding of science is both consistent with the “crowding in” of private sector investment in R&D and that its interaction with private sector R&D raises private sector productivity.