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Public procurement as policy instrument for innovation

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  • Czarnitzki, Dirk
  • Hünermund, Paul
  • Moshgbar, Nima

Abstract

The use of public procurement to promote private innovation activities has attracted increasing attention recently. Germany implemented a legal change in its procurement framework in 2009, which allowed government agencies to specify innovative aspects of procured products as selection criteria in tender calls. We analyze a representative sample of German firms to investigate whether this reform stimulated innovation in the business sector. Across a wide set of specifications - OLS, nearest-neighbor matching, IV regressions and difference-in-differences - we find a robust and significant effect of innovationdirected public procurement on turnover from new products and services. However, our results show that the effect is largely attributable to innovations of more incremental nature rather than market novelties.

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  • Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hünermund, Paul & Moshgbar, Nima, 2018. "Public procurement as policy instrument for innovation," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-001, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:18001
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    2. Christopher F. Baum & Arash Kordestani & Dorothea Schäfer & Andreas Stephan, 2021. "Firms in Green Public Procurement: Financial Strength Indicators’ Impact on Contract Awards and Its Repercussion on Financial Strength," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 90(4), pages 71-92.
    3. Sergey Tsygankov & Vadim Syropyatov & Vyacheslav Volchik, 2021. "Institutional Governance of Innovations: Novel Insights of Leadership in Russian Public Procurement," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Cornelia Storz & Tobias ten Brink & Na Zou, 2022. "Innovation in emerging economies: How do university-industry linkages and public procurement matter for small businesses?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1439-1480, December.
    5. Dorothea Schäfer & Andreas Stephan & Sören Fuhrmeister, 2022. "The Impact of Public Procurement on Financial Barriers to Green Innovation: Evidence from European Community Innovation Survey," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2014, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Stojčić, Nebojša & Srhoj, Stjepan & Coad, Alex, 2020. "Innovation procurement as capability-building: Evaluating innovation policies in eight Central and Eastern European countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Matilde Cappelletti & Leonardo M. Giuffrida & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2024. "Procuring Survival," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(4), pages 1451-1506, December.
    8. Fadic, Milenko, 2018. "Government Procurement and the Growth of Small Firms," MPRA Paper 87015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Edquist, Charles & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, Jon Mikel, 2020. "Functional procurement for innovation, welfare and the environment," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/1, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research, revised 19 Jul 2020.
    10. Caravella, Serenella & Crespi, Francesco & Guarascio, Dario & Tubiana, Matteo, 2020. "Competitive strategies, heterogeneous demand sources and firms’ growth trajectories," GLO Discussion Paper Series 442, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Serenella Caravella & Francesco Crespi, 2021. "The role of public procurement as innovation lever: evidence from Italian manufacturing firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 663-684, October.
    12. Hang, Jing & Zhan, Chaoqun, 2023. "Government procurement and resource misallocation: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 568-589.
    13. Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Schnabel, Isabel & Truger, Achim & Wieland, Volker, 2019. "Den Strukturwandel meistern. Jahresgutachten 2019/20 [Dealing with Structural Change. Annual Report 2019/20]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201920.
    14. Bernard Hoekman & Marco Sanfilippo, 2020. "Foreign participation in public procurement and firm performance: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(1), pages 41-73, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Procurement of Innovation; Public Procurement with Contracted Innovation; Technical Change; Research and Development; Econometric Policy Evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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