>But the reason the US was able to do so much fundamental research in the 20th century is not (just) because the US culturally valued fundamental research - it'

>But the reason the US was able to do so much fundamental research in the 20th century is not (just) because the US culturally valued fundamental research - it's because the US was able to get popular support for taxing people and spending it on the war effort (both the World Wars and the Cold War) and decided that fundamental research was necessary for the war effort. Are you implying that the USSR spent a smaller percentage of tax revenue on the war effort?