Advancing the State of Knowledge on Social and Economic Outcomes of Fundamental Research

在竞争激烈的全球环境中，稀缺资源的分配是一个引起强烈兴趣和争论的问题，政策制定者对基础科学和工程研究的公共支出的社会和经济结果有一个清晰的认识是很重要的。自第二次世界大战以来，政策制定者和公众开始期望从基础研究的公共投资中获得社会和经济回报。美国国家科学基金会通过支持旨在理解科学和工程对美国经济和整个社会的贡献的研究来回应这些期望。这样的研究主要是由经济学家进行的，他们开发了几种方法来衡量研究和开发（R&amp；D）对结果的影响。虽然经济研究证实了研发与产出和生产率增长之间的密切关系，但它们对经济结果的关注是有限的。因此，对科学和工程研究投资可能产生的许多其他可能的好处几乎没有进行调查，包括公共卫生、食品和营养、环境质量和可持续性、人力资本的发展及其与社会经济流动性、通信和运输、教育、邻里和社区的关系以及工作和娱乐的性质等领域的生活质量成果。这种对经济成果的过度依赖导致了对基础研究所带来的全方位效益的低估。此外，经济研究的结果伴随着高度的不确定性，这使得解释变得困难，并限制了它们在政策目的上的效用。扩大科学、工程和社会之间相互关系的知识体系，因为它们与新的研究活动的影响有关，这将使人们能够更全面地了解基础研究的社会和经济成果。这一领域知识水平的进步要求我们超越以往对经济成果的关注，转而对其他领域的成果进行概念化和衡量，这对美国人和他们的生活质量都很重要。这项拨款的目的是支持一个研讨会，重点是发展这些替代概念和衡量基础研究的社会和经济成果。

ADVANCING THE STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC OUTCOMES OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH WORKSHOP ABSTRACT In a competitive global environment where the allocation of scarce resources is a matter of intense interest and debate, it is important that policy-makers have a clear picture of the social and economic outcomes of public expenditures for fundamental scientific and engineering research. Since World War II, policy-makers and the public have come to expect social and economic returns from public investment in fundamental research. The National Science Foundation has responded to these expectations by supporting research aimed at understanding the contributions of science and engineering to the U.S. economy and society at large. Such research has been conducted predominately by economists, who have developed several methodologies which measure the influence of research and development (R&D) on outcomes. While economic studies have confirmed a strong relationship between R&D and growth of output and productivity, they are limited in their focus on economic outcomes. Consequentially, many other putative benefits that may result from investments in science and engineering research have scarcely been investigated, including quality-of-life outcomes in the areas of public health, food and nutrition, environmental quality and sustainability, the development of human capital and its relation to socio-economic mobility, communications and transportation, education, neighborhoods and communities, and the nature of work and recreation. This over-reliance on economic outcomes has resulted in the underestimation of the full-range of benefits that are derived from fundamental research. Furthermore, results from economic studies are accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty that makes interpretation difficult, and limits their utility for policy purposes. An expansion of the body of knowledge concerning the interrelationships between science, engineering, and society as they pertain to the impact of new research activities would enable a more complete understanding of the social and economic outcomes of fundamental research. Advances in the state of knowledge in this area require that we move beyond our historic focus on economic outcomes, and toward alternative conceptualizations and measurements of outcomes in other areas that are important to Americans and their quality-of-life. The purpose of this grant is to support a workshop focused on developing these alternative concepts and measures of the social and economic outcomes of fundamental research.