ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT : A CROSS-COUNTRY STUDY

Abstract

As we daily experience our man-made environment, we cannot help being struck by the number of products and services that we could not even envision a generation ago. From compact disks to video cameras, from personal computers to walkmans, from engineering plastics to bin-engineered drugs, just to name a few. Science and technology in fact have assumed such importance that they have come to exert an impact on every aspect of human life. It has somehow become impossible to discuss industrial development or the improvement of social welfare in any country without considering the role of modern science and technology. For this reason, science and technology have become a focus of attention. Hence, this thesis serves to bring an awareness to a subject that is instrumental to an economy's long-term growth prospects. Specifically, the role of science and technology in economic development. How is technology and growth related? Attempts are being made to study this relationship empirically on a cross-country basis. A regression analysis of the relationship between R&D expenditures and economic growth for more than thirty countries has been conducted. The model is estimated by the ordinary least squares method using the SAS statistical package. The results suggest a positive impact of R&D on economic growth. The role of research and development which is at the core of science and technology activities will be examined in the case of Singapore. International comparisons on R&D activities revealed that Singapore is lagging behind the industrialised and newly industrialised countries.