Tax incentives for R&D

<p>A long-standing concern surrounding the performance of the UK economy is its perceived failure to maintain the same technological pace as its competitors. Industrial research and development (R&D) expenditure as a proportion of GDP fell during the 1980s at a time when all other G7 countries increased the proportion of their output given over to R&D. This ratio is now lower in the UK than in most other G7 countries. If this world-wide trend toward more R&D indicates that industrial production is becoming increasingly science-based, then the UK may be in danger of becoming a relatively low-tech economy. One purpose of this article is to examine whether there is a rational basis for these fears.</p>