A Global Decline in Research Productivity? Evidence from China and Germany

In a recent paper, Bloom et al. (2020) find evidence for a substantial decline in research productivity in the U.S. economy during the last 40 years. In this paper, we replicate their findings for China and Germany, using detailed firm-level data spanning three decades. Our results indicate that diminishing returns in idea production are a global phenomenon, not just confined to the U.S.

Böing, Philipp and Paul Hünermund (2020), A Global Decline in Research Productivity? Evidence from China and Germany, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-030, Mannheim, published in: Economics Letters.