The Contribution of Research and Innovation to Productivity and Economic Growth

This paper examines the impact of investment in research and innovation on Australian market sector productivity. While previous studies have largely focused on a narrow class of private sector intangible assets as a source of productivity gains, this paper shows that there is a broad range of other business sector intangible assets that can significantly affect productivity. Moreover, the paper pays special attention to the role played by public support for research and innovation in the economy. The empirical results suggest that there are significant spillovers to productivity from public sector R&D spending on research agencies and higher education. No evidence is found for productivity spillovers from indirect public support for the business enterprise sector, civil sector or defence R&D. These findings could have implications for government innovation policy as they provide insights into possible productivity gains from government funding reallocations.