Schumpeterian Business Cycles with Pro-Cyclical R&D
Abstract
Recent empirical work finds that R&D expenditures are quite procyclical, even for firms that are not credit-constrained during downturns. This has been taken as strong evidence against Schumpeterian-style theories of business cycles that emphasize the idea that downturns in production may be good times to allocate labor towards innovative activities. Here we argue that the procyclicality of R&D investment is, in fact, quite consistent with at least one of these theories. In our analysis, we emphasize three key features of R&D investment relative to other types of innovative activity: (1) it uses implemented knowledge intensively, (2) it is a long-term investment with uncertain applications and (3) it suffers from diminishing returns over time. (Copyright: Elsevier)Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics in its journal Review of Economic Dynamics.
Volume (Year): 12 (2009)
Issue (Month): 4 (October)
Pages: 567-591
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Related research
Keywords: Endogenous growth; Endogenous cycles; Research and development; Commercialization;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Philippe Aghion & George-Marios Angeletos & Abhijit Banerjee & Kalina Manova, 2005. "Volatility and Growth: Credit Constraints and Productivity-Enhancing Investment," NBER Working Papers 11349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Taiji Harashima, 2005. "The Pro-cyclical R&D Puzzle: Technology Shocks and Pro-cyclical R&D Expenditure," Macroeconomics 0507012, EconWPA, revised 12 Jul 2005.
- Ríos-Rull, José-Víctor & Santaeulàlia-Llopis, Raül, 2010. "Redistributive shocks and productivity shocks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(8), pages 931-948, November.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Elena Sochirca & Óscar Afonso & Pedro Mazeda Gil, 2011. "Directed technological change with costly investment and complementarities, and the skill premium," FEP Working Papers 401, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
- Galo Nuño, 2011. "Optimal research and development and the cost of business cycles," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 257-283, September.
- Min Ouyang, 2010. "Cyclical Persistence and the Cyclicality of R&D," Working Papers 101104, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2011.
- Kadri Männasoo & Jaanika Meriküll, 2011. "How do demand fluctations and credit constraints affect R&D? Evidence from Central, Southern and Eastern Europe," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2011-09, Bank of Estonia, revised 19 Jul 2011.
- Christian Rammer, 2011.
"Auswirkungen der Wirtschaftskrise auf die Innovationstätigkeit der Unternehmen in Deutschland,"
Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research,
DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 80(3), pages 13-34.
- Rammer, Christian, 2011. "Auswirkungen der Wirtschaftskrise auf die Innovationstätigkeit der Unternehmen in Deutschland," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-070, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
- Patrick Francois & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2006. "Growth, Cycles and Welfare: A Schumpeterian Perspective," Working Papers 1090, Queen's University, Department of Economics.
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