Is Publicly Funded Agricultural Research Excessive?

Public sector agricultural research expenditure in the UK has been cut drastically over the last few years. Estimates of the rate of return to UK agricultural R and D by Wise and Harvey suggest that such cuts may well be economically justified, since returns appear to be low or even negative. This paper shows that if the accepted economic methodology is properly applied to the UK situation, the estimated rate of return may be as high as 70 per cent.