dc.description.abstract | Endogenous growth theory indicates that research and development (R&D) is widely recognized as the primary driving force of sustainable economic growth. Most nations, therefore, have gradually devoted more efforts to R&D so as to foster economic development. Therefore, evaluating the R&D efficiency and productivity across nations and understanding its determinants are the prerequisites for designing R&D policies that intend to improve resources allocation. Based on this viewpoint, this dissertation includes three issues of R&D efficiency and productivity across nations.
In the first issue, we estimate national R&D efficiency score by using the distance function approach at the multiple inputs-outputs framework of stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Simultaneously, this approach can also investigate the relationship between national R&D efficiency and national innovation system (NIS). Empirical results confirm that NIS indeed plays an essential role in improving the national R&D efficiency. Intellectual property rights protection, technological cooperation among business sectors, and knowledge transfer between business sectors and higher education institutions, the agglomeration of R&D facilities, and government sector involving in R&D activities significantly improve national R&D efficiency.
In the second issue, we compare R&D efficiency across nations based on various output-oriented R&D efficiency indexes that are developed by data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Moreover, we further examine the relationship between national innovation system and output-oriented R&D efficiency indexes. Empirical results show that nations have similar R&D efficiency in terms of patents and royalties, while their performance on journal publications is quite different. Intellectual property rights protection, knowledge stock, and human capital accumulation have significantly positive effects on overall output-oriented R&D efficiency. Importantly, private sector R&D funded by either foreign sources or funded and performed by private businesses plays an important role in improving the output-oriented R&D efficiency index for patents and for royalties and licensing fees. The R&D intensity performed by higher education institutions has a positive effect on the journal-oriented R&D efficiency index.
Finally, since R&D efficiency index belongs to a static measurement, it only enables us to understand the relative efficiency of transforming R&D inputs to outputs in the current period. Based on the concept of directional distance function and Luenberger productivity index, the third issue develops a Luenberger R&D productivity change (LRC) index and then decomposes it into R&D efficiency change (catch-up effect) and R&D technical change (innovation effect). Empirical results show that the R&D productivity growth is mainly attributed to the innovation effect; meanwhile, non-OECD nations have better performance on both efficiency change and technical change than their OECD counterparts. Also, patent-oriented R&D productivity growth can serve as the main source of national R&D productivity growth than the journal article-oriented one. Furthermore, human capital and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection improve national R&D productivity growth by the catch-up effect. Technological cooperation among business sectors and government sector involving in R&D activities promote national R&D productivity by enhancing the innovation effect.
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