The Case for Public R&D Spending

David Leonhardt notes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/briefing/federal-scientific-research-democrats-stalled.html
“This story is common across the history of technological progress. Individual businesses often can’t afford to spend much on basic scientific research. Its outcomes are too uncertain for any one company to know which research will be profitable. In many cases, research that seems likely to benefit one industry ends up benefiting a different one.
Only the federal government tends to have the resources to make these investments. After it does, private companies then use its fruits to develop innovative and profitable products, spurring economic growth and tax revenues that comfortably cover the cost of the original research”. 

Related:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/09/elon-musks-diatribe-against-subsidies-ignores-history-tech-industry/