Topic Research and Development

Research and Development in Manufacturing: Companies Performing Better Than Ever

In 2008 and 2009, during the economic crisis, Germany’s industrial enterprises invested considerably less in research and development (R&D). From 2010 to 2013, investments increased markedly again by an annual growth rate of 6.8 percent. This increase can be partly traced back to the process of catching-up after the crisis. Considering the period 2008 to 2013 research expenditures increased by annually ...

Why Is TFP Growth Sectorally Concentrated?

Research shows that total factor productivity (TFP) growth is weak in European countries. This is inter alia attributed to the fact that substantial TFP growth is limited to a few industries. Because TFP growth is typically understood as technological progress, it is concluded that technology diffusion between sectors in Europe is hampered. We use EU KLEMS data sets to decompose sectoral TFP for nine ...

Collusion through Joint R&D: An Empirical Assessment

This paper tests whether upstream R&D cooperation leads to downstream collusion. We show that a sufficient condition for identifying collusive behavior is a decline in the market share of RJV-participating firms. Using information from the U.S. National Cooperation Research Act, we estimate a market share equation correcting for the endogeneity of RJV participation and R&D expenditures. We find robust ...

M&A and R&D: Asymmetric Effects on Acquirers and Targets?

R&D Behavior of German Manufacturing Companies during the 2008/09 Recession

This paper investigates to what extent the R&D behavior of manufacturing companies was influenced by the 2008/09 crisis. Based on a broad official data set for German manufacturing companies, only a few companies that engaged in R&D during 2008 gave it up in the following year. Some companies even started R&D during crisis. R&D expenditures declined in 2009 compared to 2008, but expanded in 2010. The ...

Financing Patterns of Innovative SMEs and the Perception of Innovation Barriers in Germany

We analyze the role of public support in the financing pattern of R&D in German SMEs and their assessment of financing conditions in the context of other framework conditions for innovation. In Germany, there is a diversity of overall well-funded technology-neutral and technology-specific programs providing grants to R&D and innovation projects. Different types of SMEs access public funding for R&D ...

Innovation Policy for SMEs Proves Successful

The innovation policy of the German government and Länder provides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a wide range of programs to promote their research and development (R&D) and focuses, in particular, on the transfer of knowledge. In recent years, the programs have been streamlined and funding substantially increased as part of the second economic stimulus package. SMEs have profited ...

International Knowledge Spillovers through High-Tech Imports and R&D of Foreign-Owned Firms

The international transmission of knowledge through import spillovers, as a source of TFP growth, has received much attention in the literature. We investigate two additional direct channels through which R&D disseminates: the import of high-technology goods and the internationalization of business R&D. Building on an extensive dataset, covering both developing and industrial countries, we add foreign ...

M&A and R&D: Asymmetric Effects on Acquirers and Targets?

We evaluate the impact of M&A activity on the growth of R&D spending and R&D intensity of 265 acquiring firms and 133 merger targets between 1990 and 2009. We use different matching techniques to construct separate control groups for acquirers and targets and use appropriate difference-in-difference estimation methods to single out the causal effect of mergers on R&D growth and intensity. We find that ...

R&D Efficiency and Barriers to Entry: A Two Stage Semi-Parametric DEA Approach

This paper assesses the relative efficiency of knowledge production in the OECD using a nonparametric DEA approach. In general, resources allocated to R&D are limited and therefore must be used efficiently, given the institutional and legal constraints. The efficiency scores presented are based on an intertemporal frontier estimation for the period 1995 to 2004. We analyse the impact of the regulatory ...