Rates of Return on Physical and R&D Capital and Structure of the Production Process: Cross Section and Time Series Evidence

Abstract

R&D investment is an outcome of a corporate plan and is influenced by the exisintg technology, by prices, by product demand characteristics, and by the legacy of past capital stock decisions. In this paper we focus on the determinants and interaction of labor, physical capital and R&D. In particular, we investigate three major issues. The first relates to the nature of the factor substitution possibilities between the three inputs in response to changes in input pricees and estimate the own and cross once elasticities of the factors of production. The second problem pertains to the magnitude of which output expansion (or what may be considered the same thing, product demand growth) increases labor, physical, and R&D capital. Finally, we address the extent to which adjustment costs affect factor demands, and measure the magnitude of these costs for physical and R&D capital.