Science and Research and Development

CBO provides an introduction to the basics of satellites and constellations, describes the reasons for and consequences of the projected growth in large constellations, and discusses the costs of fielding those constellations.

This report examines approaches to budgeting that would distinguish expenditures for investment in physical capital, education, and research and development from other expenditures.

CBO assesses trends in spending for prescription drug research and development (R&D) and the introduction of new prescription drugs. CBO also examines factors that determine how much drug companies spend on R&D.

CBO examines the falloff in entrepreneurship, its potential economic consequences, factors that have contributed to it, and ways that federal policies could be changed to reverse the trend.

In 2018, the federal government spent $492 billion on investment—for physical capital, education and training, and research and development—which represented 12 percent of federal spending and 2 percent of GDP.

This blog post explains how CBO assesses the macroeconomic effects of changes in federal spending for research and development. It also highlights areas in which additional research would enhance CBO’s capacity to evaluate such spending.