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… is from page 13 of the late William Niskanen’s insightful 1997 essay “R&D and Economic Growth: Cautionary Thoughts,” which is reprinted as chapter 2 of the 2008 collection of some of the best of Niskanen’s writings, Reflections of a Political Economist [2]:
The historical and cross-national record reveals a strong relation between real expenditures for research and development (R&D) and the level of national output – but little relation with the rate of economic growth. This record is more consistent with a hypothesis that R&D is an income-elastic consumption good, something that rich nations do, rather than an investment that will increase future economic growth.