David Leonhart for the New York Times reports yesterday that trimming research budgets might stunt future economic growth. Leonhart writes that long term economic solutions rely on government investment in innovation:

Perhaps most important, Washington could make more high-return investments in science and education. Only the federal government can afford the large-scale basic science that has often led to breakthrough innovations, like the semiconductor, the Internet and many new drugs. Yet federal spending on basic research, as a share of the economy, has fallen 5 percent in the last five years. Talk about a self-defeating cut.

Federal research dollars pull their own weight, and more.