Asian and OECD international R&D spillovers

Madden, Gary G and Savage, Scott J and Bloxham, Paul (2001): Asian and OECD international R&D spillovers. Published in: Applied Economics Letters No. 8 (2001): pp. 431-435.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated an empirical relationship between accumulated R&D expenditures and total factor productivity (TFP), and have shown that the benefits of R&D can spill across countries through trade. This paper extends these analyses to a sample of 15 OECD countries and six Asian countries, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore and Thailand. An empirical model is estimated which relates TFP to domestic and foreign R&D activity, TFP catch-up and business cycle variables. Model estimates show that TFP and domestic R&D capital are positively related, and that domestic R&D has a relatively large impact on TFP growth in the NICs and LICs. Country-specific international R&D spillover elasticities are of mixed sign, and no apparent pattern by country group is evident. While this result does not change the earlier qualitative conclusions, it suggests that estimates of sample average R&D spillover elasticities should be cautiously interpreted.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: R&D activity; Asian and OECD spillovers
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O34 - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O32 - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

References

Coe, D. and Helpman, E. (1995) International R&D spillovers, European Economic Review, 39, 859-87.

Coe, D., Helpman, E. and HoOEmaister, A. (1997) North-South R&D spillovers, Economic Journal, 107, 134-49.

Engelbrecht, H. (1997) International R&D spillovers amongst OECD economies, Applied Economic Letters, 4, 315-19.

Fagerberg, J. (1994) Technology and international differences in growth rates, Journal of Economic Literature, 32, 1147-75.

Griliches, Z. (1990) Patent statistics as economic indicators: a survey, Journal of Economic Literature, 28, 1661-707.

ILO (1991, 1993, 1995) Yearbook of Labour Statistics, ILO, Geneva.

Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Trade (1997) Letter to the Authors: 16 December 1997, Jakarta.

IMF (1984, 1990, 1996) Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook,IMF, Washington DC.

IMF (1997) Financial Statistics Yearbook, IMF, Washington, DC.

Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (1997) Statistics on International Technical Cooperation, personal correspondence.

National Science and Technology Board (1996) National Survey of R&D in Singapore, personal correspondence.

OCED (1997) Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard of Indicators, OECD, Paris.

OECD (1996) Analytical Business Enterprise Research and Development Database, OECD, Paris.

SORC (1982, 1989, 1996, 1997) Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of China, Taipei.

Summers, R. and Heston, A. (1991) The Penn World Tables (Mark 5): an expanded set of international comparisons, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106, 327-68.

Thai Office of Policy and Planning (1997) Study of R&D Expenditure and Personnel in Thailand in 1983-1995, National Research Council, Bangkok.

UNESCO (various issues) Statistical Yearbook: Annuaire Statistique, United Nations, New York.

World Bank (1997) 1997 World Development Indicators, World Bank, Washington DC.