R&D expenditures by field of science and GDP: Which causes which in Canada?

This paper attempts to reveal the relationship between GDP per capita and R&D expenditure per capita, R&D expenditure per capita on natural sciences and engineering, and R&D expenditure per capita on social sciences and humanities for Canada. Based on data from 1981 to 2014, bootstrap causality test proposed by Hacker and Hatemi-J (2006) show that there is a unidirectional causality from GDP per capita to R&D expenditure per capita, and a unidirectional causality from GDP per capita to R&D expenditure per capita on natural sciences and engineering. However, no causal relationship is observed between R&D expenditure per capita on social sciences and humanities and GDP per capita. These results may point an indirect relationship between the variables or the validity of R&D paradox and the European paradox for Canada.