Public debt marriage with R&D management in the V4 and EU-27 countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

The aim of the article was to identify the relationship between the value of public debt and selected effects of research and development in the V4 and EU-27 countries, while taking into account the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the breadth of issues related to the R&D sphere, 2 predictors were identified. The first is R&D expenditure, and the second is the number of employees with higher education employed in R&D. Statistical data analysis was used as a method of collecting and developing the empirical data. The practical implication of the study is to show that both before and in the first year of the pandemic, the relationship between public debt and research, and development activity in the V4 and EU-27 countries was strong, which justifies the in-depth monitoring and study of this relationship in subsequent years of the pandemic.