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A Narrative Analysis of Federal Appropriations for Research and Development

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Abstract

This paper provides a narrative analysis of postwar federal appropriations for the research and development (R&D) activities of the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation—five agencies that consistently account for the vast majority of federal outlays for all types of R&D. We build a novel dataset quantifying the enacted full-year appropriations for all budgetary accounts funding R&D activities at these five agencies over fiscal years 1947-2019. We use this dataset to isolate a subset of 218 “significant” changes in real appropriations for each agency, and we analyze numerous primary and secondary sources to understand the context and motivation. Based on these sources, we classify each significant change in federal R&D appropriations as either “endogenous” or “exogenous” to short-run macroeconomic developments. The exogenous changes in R&D appropriations are intended as instrumental variables for studying the causal effects of government R&D in appropriately specified empirical models.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew J. Fieldhouse & Karel Mertens, 2023. "A Narrative Analysis of Federal Appropriations for Research and Development," Working Papers 2316, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddwp:97527
    DOI: 10.24149/wp2316
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sylvain Leduc & Daniel Wilson, 2013. "Roads to Prosperity or Bridges to Nowhere? Theory and Evidence on the Impact of Public Infrastructure Investment," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 89-142.
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    5. Andrew J Fieldhouse & Karel Mertens & Morten O Ravn, 2018. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Government Asset Purchases: Evidence from Postwar U.S. Housing Credit Policy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1503-1560.
    6. Andrew J. Fieldhouse & Karel Mertens, 2017. "A Narrative Analysis of Mortgage Asset Purchases by Federal Agencies," NBER Working Papers 23165, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    narrative analysis; government; R&D; public investments; fiscal policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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