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APPENDIX 2
Expenditure on R&D and Macroeconomic Indicators
In order to assess the relative importance of the national expenditure on R&D, it is common to compare
this expenditure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is also common to make comparisons between
countries on the basis of this relation.
It would be better to compare national expenditure on R&D to the Net Domestic Product, since
depreciation is part of the production cost. The comparison to the gross domestic product is used
because of the difficulty in estimating depreciation.
For specific objectives, the expenditure on R&D can be considered fixed capital formation, and it is
interesting to compare it with producers’ investments in fixed assets. In 2010, the value of expenditure
on civilian R&D reached 35% of the gross investment in the industries of the economy.
In analyzing the production function, it is also possible to use a definition which includes the output of
R&D in fixed capital formation. This provides a basis for calculating the total capital stock – fixed
assets and R&D – that is used by local producers in production.
According to the definition used here, national expenditure on R&D does not include R&D purchased
abroad, whose volume is probably not large. Nevertheless, R&D produced in Israel and sold abroad is
included, since resident producers can use the knowledge accumulated during the process of producing
R&D.
TABLE A.- NATIONAL EXPENDITURE ON CIVILIAN R&D
AND MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS
Percentages
Indicator
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
4.3
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.8
4.8
4.5
4.4
5.0
5.0
5.1
5.2
5.6
5.5
5.1
5.0
24.3
24.2
22.7
23.3
23.5
24.9
26.1
26.9
25.6
26.0
26.7
25.8
25.5
25.9
26.2
24.7
35.1
35.2
36.2
34.5
33.2
35.0
36.8
35.2
0.84
0.89
0.83
0.72
0.72
0.74
0.75
0.72
R&D performed as a percent of
government consumption
0.50
0.53
0.51
0.44
0.44
0.46
0.46
0.45
3. Business Sector
R&D performed as a percent of
gross investment in fixed assets
19.1
19.7
20.7
20.1
20.6
20.6
20.8
19.7
1. National expenditure on
civilian R&D as a percent of:
Domestic Product
Gross domestic product
Net domestic product
Domestic Investment
Gross domestic investment
Gross domestic investment
in fixed assets
Gross investment in
economic activities
2009* 2010*
2. General government
Total R&D expenditure as a
percent of general government
Expenditure
* Provisional data.
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