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The impact of costly regulation on R&D investment levels and productivity

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  • Cianci, Anna M.
  • Convery, Amanda M.
  • Evans, Mark E.
  • Hughen, Linda
  • Werner, Edward M.

Abstract

Prior research finds that risk-taking has declined after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, consistent with the notion that SOX's corporate governance and internal control mandates diverted resources away from corporate risk-taking. We introduce to the accounting literature a new measure of R&D productivity, Research Quotient, to examine whether SOX affects R&D risk-taking and R&D productivity differently and whether the quality of the firm's governance and internal controls, pre-SOX, moderate these relations. While we find the relation between SOX and R&D risk-taking is sensitive to research design choices, we find a consistent positive relation between SOX and Research Quotient. Our evidence indicates that while firms may allocate fewer resources to R&D post-SOX, they concurrently manage their R&D investments more productively. Further, our results are robust to a difference-in-difference design and are stronger for firms with weaker governance pre-SOX.

Suggested Citation

  • Cianci, Anna M. & Convery, Amanda M. & Evans, Mark E. & Hughen, Linda & Werner, Edward M., 2021. "The impact of costly regulation on R&D investment levels and productivity," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:advacc:v:53:y:2021:i:c:s0882611021000158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.adiac.2021.100527
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    2. Huang, Dan & Liu, Baohua & Chan, Kam C. & Chen, Yining, 2023. "Intended and unintended effects of mandatory R&D disclosure on innovation outcomes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

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