R&D and productivity in the US and the EU: Sectoral specificities and differences in the crisis

Davide Castellani, Mariacristina Piva, Torben Schubert, Marco Vivarelli*

*Autore corrispondente per questo lavoro

Risultato della ricerca: Contributo in rivistaArticolo in rivistapeer review

11 Citazioni (Scopus)

Abstract

Using data on the US and EU top R&D spenders from 2004 until 2012, this paper investigates the sources of the US/EU productivity gap. We find robust evidence that US firms have a higher capacity to translate R&D into productivity gains (especially in the high-tech macro sector), and this contributes to explaining the higher productivity of US firms. Conversely, EU firms are more likely to achieve productivity gains through capital-embodied technological change, at least in the medium- and low-tech macro sectors. Our results also show that the US/EU productivity gap has worsened during the crisis period, as the EU companies have been more affected by the economic crisis in their capacity to translate R&D investments into productivity. Based on these findings, we make a case for a learning-based and selective R&D funding, which, instead of purely aiming at stimulating higher R&D expenditures, works on improving the firms’ capabilities to transform R&D into productivity gains.
Lingua originaleEnglish
pagine (da-a)279-291
Numero di pagine13
RivistaTechnological Forecasting and Social Change
Volume138
Numero di pubblicazione138
DOI
Stato di pubblicazionePubblicato - 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • ???subjectarea.asjc.1400.1403???
  • ???subjectarea.asjc.3200.3202???
  • ???subjectarea.asjc.1400.1405???

Keywords

  • EU
  • Economic crisis
  • Productivity
  • R&D
  • US

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