Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, it’s worth asking some hard-nosed money questions: How much should we be spending on R&D? To answer that, in several recent papers, economists have approached this issue in clever new ways. And, though they ask slightly different questions, their conclusions share a bottom line: R&D is, in fact, one of the better long-term investments that the government can make. —David RotmanThis article is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. MIT Technology Review Narrated: How AI can help supercharge creativity