But it is more than fallible macroeconomic forecasts that cloud the picture of industrial R&D in the near future, analysts say. Other factors include: a new, untested Democratic administration; the world's changing political map; and a shifting perception of just how much basic research, independent of market demands, corporations can afford to finance. All of these ingredients contribute to a puzzle that many analysts and industry insiders are finding difficult to put together.
And though the cyclical swings in the economy and resultant ebb and flow in the demand for new employees are to be expected, some industry insiders are predicting that, with this recession, the nature of corporate R&D may have changed forever.
Although the specifics of President Clinton's first budget will not become known until late winter or early spring, Albert H. Teich, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's director of science and policy programs, says ...
