S&E research is extremely complex. How the results of individual projects and collections of projects interact to produce both positive and negative effects on society is even more complex. Furthermore, scientific knowledge accumulates, with each generation of new knowledge building on the previous ones. It is difficult for any study to provide a thorough accounting of all of the positive and negative social and economic effects of S&E discoveries or to include all of the research activity that leads to specific products or impacts.1 Nevertheless, this is an increasingly important and interesting topic. Therefore, the National Science Board has developed this exploratory chapter to provide some initial indicators of the ways that S&E research influences the economy.
Measurements of the returns to investment of R&D have long been studied by economists. This chapter provides a review of available research findings on the topic. Less research has been done on how S&E research results affect aspects of the quality of life, or even what constitutes quality of life and what factors affect it. This chapter briefly discusses some possible areas of inquiry related to this complex topic. As research in these various fields progresses, new indicators will be developed, and they will be elaborated in future reports.
Economic analysis of S&E research offers a single, though limited, framework for evaluating the potential outcomes of public and private financial support of S&E research. The limitations of economic analysis take several forms; in particular, the economic value of anything is generally limited to the concept of the prices of goods and services, as determined in a market, or the "willingness to pay" for something that would be expressed by buyers under certain hypothetical market situations. Economic value, then, is not necessarily congruent with the idealistic, legal, or ethical values that also underlie social decisionmaking (Kelman, 1981). This concept of economic value distinguishes the field of economics from many of the other fields of social science and philosophy. Other limitations in economic analysis are operational and involve the way such analyses are conducted, such as limitations in data and conflicting theories among economists.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Page | Previous | Next | Chap | Refs | Seind96 | Abbrev | Help | SRS |