Estimating Dynamic R&D Demand: An Analysis of Costs and Long-Run Benefits

This article estimates a dynamic structural model of discrete Research and Development (R&D) investment and quantifies its cost and long-run benefit for German manufacturing firms. The model incorporates linkages between R&D choice, product and process innovations, and future productivity and profits. The long-run payoff to R&D is the proportional difference in expected firm value generated by the investment. It increases firm value by 6.7% for the median firm in high-tech industries but only 2.8% in low-tech industries. Simulations show that reductions in maintenance costs of innovation significantly raise investment rates and productivity, whereas reductions in startup costs have little effect.

Peters, Bettina, Mark J. Roberts, Van Anh Vuong and Helmut Fryges (2017), Estimating Dynamic R&D Demand: An Analysis of Costs and Long-Run Benefits, RAND Journal of Economics 48(2) , 409-437