81 



1985 1986 1987 1 



1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 



FIGURE II.l Trends in federal support of R&D and FS&T. Fiscal Year 1994. 



SOI iRCE: Data on federal R&D from Tabic Oy.^a. NSF, Federal Funds for Research and Derelop- 

 nienl: Fiscal Years IW.i. IW-i.aiid IW5. NSF yS-33^ (Arlington. Va.: NSF/Division of Science 

 Resources Studies, forthcomins). The data tor FY I9Ht through F\' 1993 are actual obligations; those 

 tor \'\ 19^4 and F^ I99S were estimated h\ the R&D agencies. The GDP implicit price deflators 

 ( 19S" = 100) were taken from Table B-1. NSF. Salioital Patterns of R&D Resources: J9'J4 (NSF/ 

 Di\isi(>ii of Science Resources Studies, 1995). p. S. FS&T numbers were derived from agency R&D 

 budgets b\ subtracting spending for DOD research categories 6.3b through 6.6 and spending for 

 cc|ui\alent activities at NASA and DOE in 1993. as estimated b\ the Office of the Director of Defense 

 Research and Engineering, and extrapolated to 199-1 



The federal R&D (aud FS&T) portfolio is complex and diverse. 



Fij;iirc III sliows tlic trends over tlie last decade in federal R&D and FS&T 

 funding in botli current- and constant-dollar terms.' While the current-dollar curve 

 suggests a slow, steady rise in federal R&D spending up until Fiscal Year 1994, the 

 constant-dollar curve shows that total federal R&D spending peaked in FiscalYear 

 1990 The downturn from 199^ to 199S is actually larger than indicated in the 

 figure, because nearh S2 billion in FiscalYear 199S budget authoritv' has been 

 subsequenth rescinded. The President s budget for FiscalYear 1996 calls for cuts of 

 about 20 percent in real terms over the period from 1996 to 2000, and congres- 

 sional spending plans call for even larger reductions in R&D — 33 percent in real 

 terms by FiscalYear 2002. according to the budget resolution of June 1995.^ 



FS&T has shown a somewhat different pattern, owing to the subtraction from 

 R&D of the ver\ rapidly changing and large amounts of spending in non-FS&T 

 programs In Fiscal \ear 198" dollars, FS&T funding grew steadily from 1985 

 through 1993 and has been essentially constant in 199-J and 1995. 



Figure 11.2 shows trends in the ratios of federal support for R&D and FS&T to 

 gross domestic product ((IDP). The federal government has recently invested the 

 equivalent of about 1 percent of the GDF in R&D, although the ratio has been 

 slowh declining for some time, from nearh 1.5 percent 25 years ago. Tlie propor- 

 tion of CAW corresponding to FS&T has been growing slowly and is now in the 

 neighborhood of 0.5 to 0.(i percent. 



