ABSTRACT
Over the past twenty-five years evidence has accumulated to suggest that agricultural research is highly productive in both developed and less developed countries. The estimated real rates of return are extremely high, much higher than the returns from any safe financial asset and probably higher than the returns to many alternative LDC projects, although the evidence is less solid here. l Moreover, while the range of estimated returns is quite large, few studies report real rates of return below 15 per cent, suggesting that risk of failure is not an important factor inhibiting investment in research.
