R&D Spillovers for Public R&D Productivity

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically investigates whether the productivity of a public (government-funded) R&D project improves when the aggregate R&D investment in the same technology field increases. Based on the unique project level data that cover almost entire public R&D projects in Korea, this paper shows that aggregate investment in other public R&D projects in the same technology field increases a public R&D project’s outputs both independent of its project expenditure (additive spillover effects) and interactive with its project expenditure (multiplicative spillover effects). The spillover effects from the aggregate private R&D investment in the same technology field also exist, but to a much lesser extent.     

Strategic R&D policy in a quality-differentiated industry with three exporting countries

We examine strategic research and development (R&D) policy for quality-differentiated products in a third-market trade model. We extend the previous work by adding a third exporting country, so that the market structure is international triopoly. We show that the presence of the third exporting country affects strategic R&D policies. With three exporting countries, the lowest-quality exporting country gains from taxing domestic R&D and the middle-quality exporting country gains from subsidizing domestic R&D under both Bertrand and Cournot competition. As in the duopoly case, however, the optimal unilateral policy for the highest-quality exporting country depends on the mode of competition. Various cases of policy coordination by exporting countries are also examined.     

Does an R&D tax credit affect R&D expenditure? The Japanese R&D tax credit reform in 2003

To what extent does a tax credit affect firms’ R&D activity? What are the mechanisms? This paper examines the effect of R&D tax credits on firms’ R&D expenditure by exploiting the variation across firms in the changes in the eligible tax credit rate between 2000 and 2003. Estimating the first-difference equation of the linear R&D model by panel GMM, we find the estimated coefficient of an interaction term between the eligible tax credit rate and the debt-to-asset ratio is positive and significant, indicating that the effect of tax credit is significantly larger for firms with relatively large outstanding debts. Conducting counterfactual experiments, we found that the aggregate R&D expenditure in 2003 would have been lower by 3.0–3.4 percent if there had been no tax credit reform in 2003, where 0.3–0.6 percent is attributable to the effect of financial constraint, and that the aggregate R&D expenditure would have been larger by 3.1–3.9 percent if there had been no cap on the amount of tax credits, where 0.3–0.8 percent is attributable to relaxing the financial constraint of firms with outstanding debts.     

R&D,trade in intermediate inputs,and the comparative advantage of advanced countries

This paper examines the accumulation of physical capital versus knowledge (R&D) capital as a determinant of advanced countries’ comparative advantage. I show that advanced countries are abundant in R&D resources, specialize in knowledge-intensive stages of high-technology industries, and outsource labor-intensive stages of the industries to labor-abundant countries. In contrast, global data on production and trade cannot support the conventional view that advanced countries specialize in and export capital-intensive goods. My results indicate that the accumulation of knowledge capital plays a vital role in explaining advanced countries’ comparative advantage.     

R&D subsidies and business R&D: Evidence from high-tech manufacturing firms in Jiangsu

We investigate how R&D subsidies affect business R&D investments using cross-section data of high-tech manufacturing firms in Jiangsu province of China. Our estimations based on propensity score matching suggest that public subsidies positively influence business R&D investments. Further classifying firms into different groups by size, financial constraints, and ownership, we find that the stimulation effect is more significant and stronger for smaller firms, more financially constrained firms, and private-owned firms. The heterogeneity of policy effects with respect to export status, Relative Comparative Advantage index, region, and industry are also discussed.     

A Duality Between Cost-Reducing R&D versus Quality-Improving R&D and Welfare Analysis in a Hotelling Model

Two versions of research and development (R&D) activities in a Hotelling model with endogenous spillover effect, one with cost-reducing R&D and the other with quality-improving R&D, are analyzed in this paper. The result points out that two such kinds of R&D activities will share identical strategic properties, and that we shall be able to derive the equilibrium strategies of a quality-improving R&D model from those of a cost-reducing R&D model, and vice versa. It is found that the special market demand in a Hotelling model in fact plays a crucial role as well. This paper also provides a welfare analysis, the results of which show that government intervention via taxing the locations and subsidizing R&D efforts can remedy the market failure resulting from excess differentiation on locations and under-investment on R&D expenditures in non-cooperative equilibrium.     

R&D Subsidies and Foreign Direct Investment

We devise a model in which domestic firms do applied R&D, which can be subsidized by the government, and foreign firms with superior technology can enter in the domestic market. Foreign Direct Investment can act as a substitute of subsidies to improve domestic R&D, the share of domestic leading firms and consumption. Relatively closed economies may benefit from R&D subsidization while relatively open economies may not. For relatively low growth of the technological frontier, it is optimal to subsidize R&D and close the economy to foreign investment but the opposite happens for relatively high growth. Numerical simulations show the economy dynamics after policy experiments.     

研发投入能否降低企业产出波动

文章基于内生技术进步的理论框架分析了研发投入对企业产出波动的影响,构建了包含技术种类扩展和质量阶梯升级的内生技术进步理论模型,发现研发投入对企业产出波动的影响同时受到多样化效应和“创新性毁灭”效应两种效应的作用。文章利用工业企业数据实证分析验证,结果表明：企业研发投入与产出波动之间存在非线性关系,当研发强度较低时,研发强度增加将有利于降低企业产出波动;随着研发强度的增大,生产率提升、“创新性毁灭”效应更加明显,企业增加研发强度抑制产出波动的作用逐渐变弱。研发投入带来的技术多样化效应具有抑制产出波动的作用。因此,企业应保持适度的研发强度便于抑制产出波动、保障生产供给侧稳定。     

R&D,financing constraints and export green-sophistication in China

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of R&D and financing constraints on the green-sophistication of Chinese firm exports. The theoretical model predicts that firms' R&D expenditure improves the level of green sophistication and financing constraints have moderating effects on firms' the export green-sophistication. The paper constructs an index of the export green-sophistication by incorporating green coefficient in traditional export sophistication. We use the data from the China industrial firm database and confirm our theoretical predictions. The financing constraints are found to have a significant moderating effects on the relationship between R&D and export green-sophistication in basic test and robustness check.     

R&D,unemployment, and labor market policies

This paper studies the effects of labor market policies on R&D activities and unemployment. I develop a search and matching model in which firms’ R&D decisions are endogenously determined. The model demonstrates that more intensive labor market policies that protect workers reduce the levels of R&D activities. This study offers a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between R&D activities, labor market policies, and unemployment which is discussed in empirical studies.     

Product Reliability,R&D,and Manufacturing Cost Shocks

Suppose a firm’s research and development (R&D) improves product reliability which in turn decreases the cost of product failure for both the firm and its customers. The primary research question of the paper is how a firm with market power optimally adjusts its R&D if it experiences a manufacturing cost shock. Our model suggests that a manufacturing cost shock prompts the firm to do less R&D in the cases where the replacement cost is low or the marginal manufacturing cost is high. Conversely, if the replacement cost is high and the marginal manufacturing cost is low, then the firm increases R&D, mitigating some of the increase in the manufacturing cost. The paper also compares the outcomes for reliability, profits, consumer surplus, and social surplus for the optimal R&D case as compared to the case of doing no R&D, paying particular attention to how exogenous changes in the marginal manufacturing cost affect this comparison.     

R&D and market value of Japanese firms in the 1990s

There is a concern in Japan that the R&D profitability of its domestic firms fell significantly in the 1990s, following the US pattern in the 1980s. This paper finds, however, that the effect of R&D on the market value of a firm, relative to that of tangible assets, increased in the 1990s in terms of both within firm variations and cross section variations, even though the average market value itself significantly fell. More trade and higher foreign ownership significantly enhanced the market value of a firm, and so did more patents in sectors such as pharmaceuticals. J. Japanese Int. Economies 20 (2) (2006) 155–176.     

Inequality in healthcare R&D outcomes: a model of process disruption

ABSTRACT

The developing world has substantively different healthcare research and development (R&D) needs than the developed world. In this paper it is argued that healthcare inequality is primarily an outcome of the incentives of an innovation system that privileges wealthy markets. Given the difficulties inherent in challenging these incentive structures, it might be the R&D process itself (rather than its incentive structures) that, if disrupted, may ultimately improve access to R&D outcomes for poor populations. The objective of this paper is to spur novel thinking about the problem of healthcare inequality by developing a provocative conceptual model of healthcare R&D process disruption, based on the application of novel technologies to the research process itself, to radically lower the costs of R&D. The model developed here suggests that healthcare inequality might ultimately be mitigated by substantial reductions in time and cost in the biomedical R&D process made possible by novel technologies.     

Do R&D tax incentives work? Firm-level evidence from China

Tax incentives have been used worldwide to encourage firm R&D, but there is little evidence on their effectiveness as a policy tool in developing countries. We use a panel dataset of Chinese listed companies covering 2007 to 2013 to assess the effects of tax incentives on firm R&D expenditures and analyze how institutional conditions shape these effects. Our results show that tax incentives motivate R&D expenditures for our sample firms. A 10% reduction in R&D user costs leads firms to increase R&D expenditures by 3.97% in the short run. We also find considerable effect heterogeneity: Tax incentives significantly stimulate R&D in private firms but have little influence on state-owned enterprises' R&D expenditures. Moreover, the effects of tax incentives are more pronounced for private firms without political connections. Hence, reducing political intervention complements tax incentives' capacity to foster firm R&D in developing countries.     

环境规制、技术距离与异质性企业研发选择

文章从技术异质性角度,指出环境规制产生的利润削弱效应和摆脱规制效应下,异质性企业有不同的研发选择。环境规制一方面会削弱企业研发的边际收益,不利于企业研发;另一方面也会刺激企业增加研发以摆脱环境规制成本。这两种效应在不同技术企业中的差异会导致异质性企业截然不同的研发选择。为此,文章首先构建一个理论模型,推导出环境规制产生的利润削弱效应和摆脱规制效应下,不同技术企业的研发选择。发现对于高生产率企业,环境规制产生的摆脱规制效应超过利润削弱效应,环境规制力度增加会刺激企业增加研发;而对于低生产率企业,环境规制产生的利润削弱效应起主导作用,环境规制力度增加反而阻碍企业研发。进一步利用环境规制的政策实验和工业企业微观数据,对以上观点进行实证检验。发现环境规制对企业研发的影响取决于其所处的技术水平,这不仅体现在集约边际企业的研发投入上,也体现在广延边际企业是否研发的选择上。集约边际上,环境规制增加了高生产率企业的研发投入,但这种作用随着企业与技术前沿的距离增加而递减,最终逆转为减少低生产率企业研发投入。广延边际上,环境规制使低生产率企业相对高生产率企业进入研发的概率更低,而退出研发的概率却更高。     

Exporting,R&D investment and firm survival in the Indian IT sector

This paper examines the effect of exporting and R&D investment on firm survival for a panel of Indian IT firms. We show that exporting has competing effects on firm survival. On the one hand, exporting and investing in productivity are complementary activities, while, on the other, exporting activity is an additional source of uncertainty for the firm. We show that both effects influence survival, but operate at different points in time. Specifically, the hazard facing exporters is higher than non-exporters in the initial phase following entry into the export market, reflecting the fact that exporters are particularly vulnerable to shocks in the start-up phase. However, over time, exporters benefit more from productivity gains than non-exporters and the hazard facing exporters falls below that confronting non-exporters.     

The effects of product liability costs on R&D with asymmetric information

This paper examines the effects of product liability costs on R&D with asymmetric information. When the product is defective, both the consumer and producer share the resulting losses. This paper explores the impacts of liability costs on the firm’s R&D decisions in three information structures: full information; hidden information; and hidden information and hidden action. It is found that the effects differ across information structures. This paper also compares the equilibrium amounts of R&D and social welfare levels across three cases. Equilibrium R&D is smaller than the socially optimal level for each information structure.     

Comparing monetary policy transmission across European countries

Comparing Monetary Policy Transmission across European Countries. — This paper re-evaluates the estimation of monetary policy transmission. Within the Structural VAR framework, five methodological points are identified, recognition of which can help to improve the reliability and credibility of estimates. The findings of the methodological analysis are applied to the estimation of models for thirteen European countries. Results show that considerable differences in the transmission mechanism exist between these economies, mainly in intensity, but also in timing.