U.S. Federal Science Policy in One Image

Source: Science magazine

Clockwise from top left: (1) Congress has been remarkably consistent over the years in what it spends on research despite the absence of an overall federal science budget. (2) By sector, industry receives the largest share of research dollars, and the U.S. government is by far the biggest source of research funding for universities. (3) The president's 2012 request favored some agencies over others in reflecting the Administration's priorities, (4) although in absolute terms the annual budget for the National Institutes of Health dwarfs that of all other agencies.

The defense budget is almost as large as the military budgets of all the other countries in the world. It is six times the military budget of China, the second biggest military spender among nations. In the heyday of the British Empire its navy budget was held to be greater than the navy budgets of the second and third largest navies in the world. Perhaps it is time to reduce military spending, perhaps by not fighting any wars for a while, and increase spending on research and development and education that will strengthen our competitiveness in an increasingly global economy. Maybe the European Union, our ally, can be convinced to spend more on its military in order to play a more suitable role in international security affairs.

As the United States spends far more on health than any other country (with worse health outcomes than many countries that spend much less per capita, we also spend disproportionately on health research. I don't know whether this is a reasonable level or not. It might be that as the world economy is increasingly oriented toward service sectors including the health services, we are getting ahead of the curve and will benefit in the long run. My guess is that putting health research funding decisions in the hands of the old men and old women of Congress results in spending more on NIH and less on NSF, DOE and DOC than we should.