R&D determinants: Accounting for the differences between research and development

Andrés Barge-Gil and Alberto López

Research Policy, 2014, vol. 43, issue 9, 1634-1648

Abstract: The determinants of R&D are an important topic of innovation studies. The classical Schumpeterian hypotheses about the influence of size and market power have been complemented with the role played by industry determinants, such as demand pull, technological opportunity and appropriability, in determining R&D investments. However, R&D has always been considered as a whole, even though research and development activities differ in many aspects. We take advantage of a new panel database of innovative Spanish firms (PITEC) to distinguish between research and development efforts of firms. We analyze the differentiated role played by traditional R&D determinants in driving research and development. Results show that demand pull and appropriability have a higher effect on development, while technological opportunity is more influential for research. Differences are statistically significant, important in magnitude, and robust to the use of different indicators for demand pull, technological opportunity and appropriability, and to several robustness checks.

Keywords: R&D determinants; Schumpeterian hypotheses; Demand pull; Technological opportunity; Appropriability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

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Working Paper: R&D Determinants: accounting for the differences between research and development (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:43:y:2014:i:9:p:1634-1648

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2014.04.017

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