Industry R&D intensity distributions: regularities and underlying determinants

This paper aims to examine the nature of the distributions of firm R&D intensities within industries and explore the factors that underlie the industry R&D intensity distributions. In particular, following the seminal study by Cohen and Klepper (1992) and using some new and rich data on firm R&D intensities for seven industries across six countries, this study examines the regularities in the industry R&D intensity distributions and demonstrates, based on a simple model of firm R&D, that the industry R&D intensity distributions are governed by the distributions of technological competence, a measure of firm R&D productivity, which corresponds to the notion of the “unobserved R&D-related capabilities” suggested by Cohen and Klepper (1992). This study found that firm R&D intensities within industries are lognormally distributed, displaying a strikingly regular pattern across industries, that the industry distributions of the levels of technological competence are also lognormal, and that, based on the formal model of firm R&D and the notion of the unobserved R&D-related capabilities, the distribution of firm technological competence within an industry underlies the industry's firm R&D intensity distribution.