‘Structural additional investment in research and development will generate half a per cent additional growth for the Netherlands’

Dutch economic growth is slowing because people are getting older, while fewer young people are joining the ranks. According to RaboResearch’s economist Hugo Erken, structural additional investment in research and development in the Netherlands provides half a percentage point additional growth. This is what he says on the podcast Reliable sources.

According to Ergen, the return on public and private investment in research and development in the Netherlands is ‘enormous’. But the Netherlands lags behind other EU member states, which have collectively agreed to spend three percent of their gross domestic product (GNP). Currently, the Netherlands (both government and corporate) allocates 2.15 percent.

“The working population is declining. This causes a contraction in the economy. So you need to get more growth through labor productivity. This growth is also important if we want to have all kinds of joint facilities such as sanitation at affordable prices in the future, ”says Ergan.
The Knowledge Alliance, a collaboration between scientists and the business community, proposes to upgrade to the European standard of three percent of GDP. “If you do that – if you reach 3 percent by 2030 – the Netherlands will grow by half a percentage point a year. By the middle of the next decade our economy will be about 85 billion euros. This is an average increase of almost 8,000 euros per Dutch person. A huge impact.”

According to Ergen, RaboResearch proves that the Central Planning Bureau is wrong with this calculation. Government accountants point out that it is difficult to disclose in statistics the return on investment for research and development. Peter Hasecomb, director of the Plan Bureau, said the CPB wanted to find a way to do this shortly before the House of Representatives election. According to Ergen, the CPB model is labor and capital based and underestimates the impact of technological development.

Marcel Levy, leader of the Knowledge Alliance, is pleased with the conclusion of the robot study: “Countries around us are investing more and more frantically. Such as Germany, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom and the United States outside the European Union. They see the answer very clearly. The Netherlands is very expensive. Knowledge and innovation are the most powerful machines for solving social problems, stimulating the economy and making the Netherlands a better and future resource country.

Education ministers recently proposed a one-time investment of .5 8.5 billion in all aspects of education and science. But according to MP Nilüfer Gündoğan (Volt) structural investment is more important than making a lot of money at once. “In politics there is the attitude of the Zealander woman: not even a hundred! The budget cycle focuses on one year and the election statements four years. If you dare to go for a long time, you will be punished.