Federal Funding of Basic Research

Average Annual Growth Rates for Federal Obligations for Basic Research

This table gives the average annual rate of growth in basic research support by period. This annual growth rate is calculated by considering the federal obligation in a given year, denoted as Year 1 (for example, 1952), observing the federal obligation in a later year, denoted as Year 2 (for example, 1959), and then calculating the annual compound interest rate needed to obtain the federal obligation in Year 2, starting with the amount obligated in Year 1. The formula for this rate in percent is Rate = ((Year 2 $/Year 1 $)^(1/# of years)-1)*100.

The calculations are done in constant dollars, using 1992 as the base year.

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  Period	 Number		 Year 1 ($)	 Year 2 ($)	 Rate
(Year 1-Year 2)	of Years	(thousands)	(thousands)	  %

1952-1959	   7		   608,988	 2,024,244	18.719
1953-1959	   6		   573,391	 2,024,244	23.396
1960-1969	   9		 2,541,429	 6,840,566	11.630
1970-1979	   9		 6,434,708	 7,701,442	 2.017
1980-1989	   9		 7,884,879	11,853,769	 4.634
1990-1999	   9		12,115,595	14,754,012	 2.213

1960-1989	  29		 2,541,429	11,853,769	 5.454
1960-1999	  39		 2,541,429	14,754,012	 4.613
1970-1989	  19		 6,434,708	11,853,769	 3.268
1970-1999	  29		 6,434,708	14,754,012	 2.903
1980-1999	  19		 7,884,879	14,754,012	 3.353
1990-1997	   7		12,115,595	13,376,231	 1.424
1990-1998	   8		12,115,595	13,435,288	 1.301
1996-1998	   2		13,176,369	13,435,288	 0.978
1996-1999	   3		13,176,369	14,754,012	 3.842
1997-1999	   2		13,376,231	14,754,012	 5.024
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Average Annual Growth Rates for Federal Obligations for Basic Research,
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Period		 Number		Year 1 ($)	Year 2 ($)	Rate
(Year 1-Year 2)	of Years	(thousands)	(thousands)	%

1953-1959	   6		    12,333	   235,613	63.502
1960-1969	   9		   294,520	   870,872	12.802
1970-1979	   9		   818,500	 1,346,905	 5.690
1980-1989	   9		 1,375,246	 1,747,125	 2.695
1990-1998	   8		 1,702,926	 1,897,018	 1.358
1996-1998	   2		 1,824,795	 1,897,018	 1.960
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Average Annual Growth Rates for Federal Obligations for Basic Research,
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION and NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Period	  Number     NIH	  NIH	   Rate	     NSF	  NSF	     Rate
(Year 1-  of Yrs  Year 1 ($)   Year 2 ($)   %      Year 1 ($)   Year 2 ($)    %
Year 2)		 (thousands)  (thousands)         (thousands)  (thousands)	

1970-1979   9	  1,481,363    2,685,694   6.834     816,590     1,345,422   5.705
1980-1989   9	  2,769,546    4,533,889   5.629   1,374,783     1,747,907   2.704
1990-1998   8     4,572,640    6,038,349   3.537   1,702,013     1,850,737   1.053
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Data compiled by
Samuel M. Rankin, III
Director, AMS Washington Office
tel: 202-588-1100
email: smr@ams.org
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