R&D and Development

Lederman, Daniel ; Maloney, William F.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT;    EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS;    EXPORTS;    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS;    GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3024
RP-ID  :  WPS3024

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Lederman and Maloney trace the evolutionof research and development (R&D) expenditures along thedevelopment process using a new global panel data set. Theyshow that R&D effort measured as a share of GDP riseswith development at an increasing rate. The authors examinehow four groups of countries from Latin America, Asia,advanced manufacturing exporters, and advanced naturalresource-abundant countries fare relative to the predicteddevelopment trajectory. Latin America generallyunderperforms as do some countries in Asia and Europe, buttheir striking finding is that some-Finland, Israel, theRepublic of Korea, and Taiwan (China)-have radicallydeviated from the predicted trajectory and displayedimpressive R&D takeoffs. The authors ask whether thesecountries overinvest in R&D but find that the highestimates of the social rates of return probably justifythis effort. Moreover, the returns to R&D decline withper capita GDP. The authors attempt to explain why richcountries invest more in R&D than poor countries. Theyconclude that financial depth, protection of intellectualproperty rights, government capacity to mobilize resources,and the quality of research institutions are the mainreasons why R&D efforts rise with the level of development.