Bounding the Effects of R&D: An Investigation Using Matched Establishment-Firm Data

40 Pages Posted: 4 Oct 2010 Last revised: 27 Aug 2022

See all articles by James D. Adams

James D. Adams

Dept of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Adam B. Jaffe

Brandeis University; Motu Economic and Public Policy Research; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 1996

Abstract

Studies of firm-level data have shown that a firm's R&D and the R&D of other firms increase conventional factor productivity. We investigate these phenomena further by examining the relationship between plant-level productivity and firm-level R&D. We find that (1) the productivity-enhancing effects of parent firm R&D are diminished by geographic distance from the research lab and `technological' distance between the product-field focus of the R&D and the plants; (2) productivity appears to depend on the intensity of parent firm R&D (R&D per plant), not on the total amount; and (3) spillovers of research effects from technologically related firms are significant but also depend on R&D intensity rather than total industry R&D. These results suggest that, despite the externalities created by spillovers of R&D, the `dilution' of R&D across multiple target plants reduces its potency sufficiently that spillovers may not be a source of industry-wide or economy-wide increasing returns.

Suggested Citation

Adams, James D. and Jaffe, Adam B., Bounding the Effects of R&D: An Investigation Using Matched Establishment-Firm Data (April 1996). NBER Working Paper No. w5544, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1685733

James D. Adams (Contact Author)

Dept of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( email )

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Adam B. Jaffe

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