The literature on the effects of research and development

Abstract

The economic return to public and private R&D is of enormous interest to academics and policy makers. First, private returns to R&D appear to be large and larger than the returns to alternative investments. Second, private R&D and R&D subsidies are positively correlated and there is no evidence for crowding out effects. Third, R&D cooperation increases private R&D. Fourth, there appear to exist complementarities between alternative sources of funding. Fifth, the mobility of R&D workers, particularly of university scientists is positively related to an increase in innovation. Sixth, there are many university spinoffs but these are no more successful than non-university spinoffs. Seventh, scientists with a migration background outperform domestic ones. Eights, universities constitute important collaboration partners. Ninth, clusters enhance collaboration, patents and productivity. A problem for economic policy is that little is known about the optimal design of policy measures since most studies analyze a single policy measure only.