Public Procurement of Innovation: Evidence from a German Legislative Reform

Dirk Czarnitzki, Paul Hünermund and Nima Moshgbar

International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2020, vol. 71, issue C

Abstract: Using 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 calls for tender. We analyze a sample of 3410 German firms to investigate whether this reform stimulated innovation in the business sector. Across a wide range of specifications – OLS, nearest-neighbor matching, IV regressions and difference-in-differences – we find a robust and significant effect of innovation-directed public procurement on turnover with new products and services. At the same time, our results demonstrate that public procurement mainly stimulates innovations of more incremental nature rather than true market novelties.

Keywords: Public Procurement of Innovation; Public Procurement with Contracted Innovation; Innovation; Research and Development; Econometric Policy Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H57 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:indorg:v:71:y:2020:i:c:s0167718720300436

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2020.102620

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