Ask HN: A historical list of inflation-adjusted costs of research initiatives?

2 points by qqqqquinnnnn 3 years ago | 1 comment

Title says it all - curious to know if all scientific research has gotten more expensive over time, or if that kind of price tag creep is only for particle physics

NtochkaNzvanova 3 years ago |

I don't know that adjusted costs of individual research projects are going to be informative, if that's what you're looking for -- they are apples and oranges between the research of today and in the past. You may be able to find historical data on total R&D spending, either in (adjusted) currency or as a percentage of GDP. Check out the NSF research reports e.g. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20221.