Moving data
R&D Efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean versus South Korea from 1970 to 2007
Sources: RICYT, Lederman and Saenz (2005), and World Development Indicators (World Bank).
Around 1974, expenditures on R&D (as a percent of GDP) in LAC and South Korea were roughly the same. By 2007, South Korea's R&D efforts were 6 times those of LAC.
The sizes of the bubbles represent GDP per capita in its actual purchasing power parity (adjusted to an international standard of comparability). The GDP data are only available from 1980 onward, so the sizes of the bubbles from 1970 to 1980 do not reflect the GDP per Capita. In South Korea the GDP per capita nearly quadruples over almost 3 decades in parallel with its increased R&D efforts. In LAC, however, the R&D efforts and the GDP per capita remained relatively stagnant.
In the background, you will see bubbles that represent individual LAC economies. Drag your mouse over any bubble and you will see the name of the country that it represents. Select any country in the side bar to the right of the chart to see the progression of R&D efforts and GDP per Capita for that individual economy.
