What Do R&D Spillovers from Universities and Firms Contribute to Productivity? Plant level productivity and technological and geographic proximity in Japan

Rene Belderbos, Kenta Ikeuchi, Kyoji Fukao, YoungGak Kim and Hyeog Ug Kwon

Discussion papers from Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)

Abstract: We examine the simultaneous effects of spillovers due to R&D by universities and by firms on total factor productivity in a panel of over 20,000 Japanese manufacturing plants. Estimating geographic decay functions based on the location of the universe of manufacturing plants run by R&D conducting firms and public research institutions in Japan, we find a positive influence of both private and public technologically proximate-R&D stocks, which decay in distance and become negligible at around 500 kilometers. Decomposition analyses show that declining R&D spillovers are responsible for a substantial part of the decline in the rate of TFP growth in Japanese manufacturing. The exit of geographically proximate plants operated by R&D intensive firms, which may be associated with a relocation of manufacturing activity overseas, plays a notable role in this process and is an important phenomenon in major industrial agglomerations such as Tokyo and Osaka.

Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2022-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-eff, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-sbm, nep-tid and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eti:dpaper:22106

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