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R&D? A Small Contribution to Productivity Growth

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Comin, D.

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Abstract

In this paper I calibrate the contribution of R&D investments to productivity growth. The basis for the analysis is the free entry condition. This yields a relationship between the resources devoted to R&D and the growth rate of technology. Since innovators are small, this relationship is not directly a¥ected by the size of the R&D externalities, the presence of scale effects or diminishing returns in R&D after controlling for the growth rate of output and the interest rate. The resulting contribution of R&D to productivity growth in the US is smaller than three to five tenths of one percentage point. Interestingly, this constitutes an upper bound for the case where innovators internalize the consequences of their R&D investments on the cost of conducting future innovations. From a normative perepective, this analysis implies that, if the innovation technology takes the form assumed in the literature, the actual US R&D intensity may be the socially optimal.

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Paper provided by C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University in its series Working Papers with number 02-01.

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Length: 39 pages
Date of creation: 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cvs:starer:02-01

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Related research
Keywords: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please 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.:
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  3. Zvi Griliches, 1992. "The Search for R&D Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 3768, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Helios Herrera & Enrique Schroth, 2003. "Profitable Innovation Without Patent Protection: The Case of Derivatives," FAME Research Paper Series rp76, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Ariel Pakes & Mark Schankerman, 1979. "The Rate of Obsolescence Of Knowledge, Research Gestation Lags, and the Private Rate of Return to Research Resources," NBER Working Papers 0346, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Kortum, Samuel, 1993. "Equilibrium R&D and the Patent-R&D Ratio: U.S. Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 450-57, May.
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  12. Comin, D., 2002. "R&D? A Small Contribution to Productivity Growth," Working Papers 02-01, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
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  13. M. Ishaq Nadiri, 1993. "Innovations and Technological Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 4423, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Nadiri, M.I., 1993. "Innovations and Technological Spillovers," Working Papers 93-31, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Basu, Susanto, 1996. "Procyclical Productivity: Increasing Returns or Cyclical Utilization?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(3), pages 719-51, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please 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.)

  1. Diego Comin & Sunil Mulani, 2007. "A theory of growth and volatility at the aggregate and firm level," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Yelena Kalyuzhnova & Michael Kaser, 2006. "Prudential Management of Hydrocarbon Revenues in Resource-rich Transition Economies," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 167-187, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Patrick Francois & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2005. "Schumpeterian Restructuring," Working Papers 1039, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Julia Hall & Grant M Scobie, 2006. "The Role of R&D in Productivity Growth: The Case of Agriculture in New Zealand: 1927 to 2001," Treasury Working Paper Series 06/01, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  5. Diego Comin & Mark Gertler, 2006. "Medium-Term Business Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 523-551, June.
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  6. Patrick Francois & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2005. "I - Q Cycles," Working Papers 1040, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Holger Strulik, 2005. "Too Much of a Good Thing? The Quantitative Economics of R&D–driven Growth Revisited," Discussion Papers 05-26, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Diego Comin, 2004. "R&D: A Small Contribution to Productivity Growth," NBER Working Papers 10625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Yasser Abdih & Frederick Joutz, 2006. "Relating the Knowledge Production Function to Total Factor Productivity: An Endogenous Growth Puzzle," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 3. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Charles I. Jones, 2004. "Growth and Ideas," NBER Working Papers 10767, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Jones, Charles I., 2005. "Growth and Ideas," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 1063-1111 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Chu, Angus C., 2007. "A Generalized Quality-Ladder Growth Model with Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights: Quantifying the Effects of Blocking Patents on R&D," MPRA Paper 3910, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2007. [Downloadable!]
  12. Kander, Astrid & Ejermo, Olof, 2006. "The Swedish Paradox," CIRCLE Electronic Working Paper Series 2006-01, CIRCLE (Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy), Lund University. [Downloadable!]
  13. Patrick Francois & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2004. "Investment Cycles," Macroeconomics 0405005, EconWPA, revised 05 May 2004. [Downloadable!]
  14. Francois, P. & Lloyd-Ellis, H., 2003. "Co-movement, capital and contracts: 'normal' cycles through creative destruction," Discussion Paper 62, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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