IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ecsysr/v29y2017i3p385-417.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of R&D on factor-augmenting technical change – an empirical assessment at the sector level

Author

Listed:
  • Zuzana Smeets Kristkova
  • Cornelis Gardebroek
  • Michiel van Dijk
  • Hans van Meijl

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to quantify endogenous factor-augmenting technical change driven by R&D investments in a panel of 11 OECD countries over 1987–2007. This paper contributes to the scant empirical evidence on the speed, sources and direction of technical change for various sectors and production factors. Assuming cost-minimization behavior, a CES framework is used to derive a system of equations that is estimated by a GMM system estimator. The estimated factor-augmenting technology parameters show that in most sectors, technical change was labor-augmenting and labor-saving. Statistically significant effects of manufacturing and services R&D were found on factor-augmenting technical change (with the highest R&D elasticities found in the high-tech manufacturing and transport, storage and communication sectors). Whereas ‘in-house’ R&D stimulates total factor productivity, R&D spilled over to other sectors has a capital-augmenting effect accompanied by a higher use of labor. The results of this study provide a starting point for incorporating endogenous factor-augmenting technical change in impact assessment models aimed at broad policy analysis including economic growth, food security or climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Zuzana Smeets Kristkova & Cornelis Gardebroek & Michiel van Dijk & Hans van Meijl, 2017. "The impact of R&D on factor-augmenting technical change – an empirical assessment at the sector level," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 385-417, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecsysr:v:29:y:2017:i:3:p:385-417
    DOI: 10.1080/09535314.2017.1316707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09535314.2017.1316707
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09535314.2017.1316707?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    2. Antràs Pol, 2004. "Is the U.S. Aggregate Production Function Cobb-Douglas? New Estimates of the Elasticity of Substitution," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, April.
    3. Giovanni Cerulli & Bianca Poti`, 2009. "Measuring Intersectoral Knowledge Spillovers: An Application Of Sensitivity Analysis To Italy," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 409-436.
    4. Miguel A. León-Ledesma & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2010. "Identifying the Elasticity of Substitution with Biased Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1330-1357, September.
    5. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2014. "The Relative Price of Services," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 727-746, December.
    6. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1995. "International R&D spillovers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 859-887, May.
    7. Colin Thirtle & Jenifer Piesse & David Schimmelpfennig, 2008. "Modeling the length and shape of the R&D lag: an application to UK agricultural productivity," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(1), pages 73-85, July.
    8. Miguel A. León-Ledesma & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2015. "Production Technology Estimates and Balanced Growth," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(1), pages 40-65, February.
    9. Keller, Wolfgang, 2002. "Trade and the Transmission of Technology," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 5-24, March.
    10. Jacques Mairesse & Mohamed Sassenou, 1991. "R&D Productivity: A Survey of Econometric Studies at the Firm Level," NBER Working Papers 3666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    12. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    13. Sherman Robinson & Hans Meijl & Dirk Willenbockel & Hugo Valin & Shinichiro Fujimori & Toshihiko Masui & Ron Sands & Marshall Wise & Katherine Calvin & Petr Havlik & Daniel Mason d'Croz & Andrzej Tabe, 2014. "Comparing supply-side specifications in models of global agriculture and the food system," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 21-35, January.
    14. James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2013. "International R&D Spillovers And Productivity Trends In The Asian Miracle Economies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1523-1541, April.
    15. Juselius, Mikael, 2008. "Long-run relationships between labor and capital: Indirect evidence on the elasticity of substitution," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 739-756, June.
    16. van der Werf, Edwin, 2008. "Production functions for climate policy modeling: An empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2964-2979, November.
    17. Jin, Hui & Jorgenson, Dale W., 2010. "Econometric modeling of technical change," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(2), pages 205-219, August.
    18. Bart Verspagen, 1997. "Estimating international technology spillovers using technology flow matrices," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 133(2), pages 226-248, June.
    19. Baccianti, Claudio, 2013. "Estimation of sectoral elasticities of substitution along the international technology frontier," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-092, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Raquel Ortega-Argil�s & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "The productivity impact of R&D investment: are high-tech sectors still ahead?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 204-222, April.
    21. Anders Sørensen & Bertel Schjerning, 2008. "Productivity Measurement in Manufacturing and the Expenditure Approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 327-340, May.
    22. UNDP Africa, 2012. "Africa Human Development Report 2012 Towards a Food Secure Future," UNDP Africa Reports 267636, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    23. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809.
    24. Hans van Meijl, 1997. "Measuring the Impact of Direct and Indirect R&D on the Productivity Growth of Industries: Using the Yale Technology Concordance," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 205-211.
    25. Michele Cincera, 2005. "Firms' productivity growth and R&D spillovers: An analysis of alternative technological proximity measures," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(8), pages 657-682.
    26. Anders Sorensen, 2001. "Comparing Apples to Oranges: Productivity Convergence and Measurement across Industries and Countries: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1160-1167, September.
    27. Sorin Krammer, 2010. "International R&D spillovers in emerging markets: The impact of trade and foreign direct investment," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 591-623.
    28. Griliches, Zvi, 1998. "R&D and Productivity," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226308869, June.
    29. Paul M. Romer, 1994. "The Origins of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 3-22, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amr Khafagy & Mauro Vigani, 2023. "External finance and agricultural productivity growth," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 448-472, March.
    2. Khafagy, Amr & Vigani, Mauro, 2022. "Technical change and the Common Agricultural Policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Iman Miremadi & Yadollah Saboohi, 2018. "Planning for Investment in Energy Innovation: Developing an Analytical Tool to Explore the Impact of Knowledge Flow," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 7-19.
    4. Miremadi, I. & Saboohi, Y. & Arasti, M., 2019. "The influence of public R&D and knowledge spillovers on the development of renewable energy sources: The case of the Nordic countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 450-463.
    5. Sankhulani, Linda, 2021. "Impact evaluation of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers’ livelihood in Zambia and Tanzania," Research Theses 334762, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ugur, Mehmet & Trushin, Eshref & Solomon, Edna & Guidi, Francesco, 2016. "R&D and productivity in OECD firms and industries: A hierarchical meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2069-2086.
    2. Ugur, Mehmet & Churchill, Sefa Awaworyi & Luong, Hoang M., 2020. "What do we know about R&D spillovers and productivity? Meta-analysis evidence on heterogeneity and statistical power," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    3. López-Pueyo, Carmen & Barcenilla-Visús, Sara & Sanaú, Jaime, 2008. "International R&D spillovers and manufacturing productivity: A panel data analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 152-172, June.
    4. Trenczek, Jan & Wacker, Konstantin M., 2023. "Human Capital Misallocation and Output per Worker Differences: Beyond Cobb-Douglas," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1331, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Zha, Donglan & Kavuri, Anil Savio & Si, Songjian, 2018. "Energy-biased technical change in the Chinese industrial sector with CES production functions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 896-903.
    6. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1784 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    8. João Gabriel Pio & Eduardo Gonçalves & Claúdio R. F. Vasconcelos, 2021. "Technology Spillovers Through Exports: Empirical Evidence for the Chinese Case," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 423-443, September.
    9. Knoblach, Michael & Rößler, Martin & Zwerschke, Patrick, 2016. "The Elasticity of Factor Substitution Between Capital and Labor in the U.S. Economy: A Meta-Regression Analysis," CEPIE Working Papers 03/16, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    10. Michael Knoblach & Fabian Stöckl, 2020. "What Determines The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Capital And Labor? A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 847-875, September.
    11. Jan Trenczek & Konstantin M. Wacker, 2023. "Accounting for cross-country output differences: A sectoral CES perspective," Working Papers 2023.09, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    12. Hübler, Michael, 2011. "Technology diffusion under contraction and convergence: A CGE analysis of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 131-142, January.
    13. Bosetti, Valentina & Carraro, Carlo & Massetti, Emanuele & Tavoni, Massimo, 2008. "International energy R&D spillovers and the economics of greenhouse gas atmospheric stabilization," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2912-2929, November.
    14. Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco & Long, Ngo Van & Poschke, Markus, 2018. "Capital-labor substitution, structural change and the labor income share," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 206-231.
    15. Krammer, Sorin M.S., 2014. "Assessing the relative importance of multiple channels for embodied and disembodied technological spillovers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 272-286.
    16. van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2017. "The unilateral implementation of a sustainable growth path with directed technical change," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 305-327.
    17. Damijan, Jože P. & Kostevc, Crt, 2007. "Knowledge Transfer, Innovation and Growth," Papers DYNREG06, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    18. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    19. Ugur, Mehment & Vivarelli, Marco, 2020. "The role of innovation in industrial dynamics and productivity growth: a survey of the literature," GLO Discussion Paper Series 648, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Gioldasis, Georgios & Musolesi, Antonio & Simioni, Michel, 2023. "Interactive R&D spillovers: An estimation strategy based on forecasting-driven model selection," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 144-169.
    21. Ioannis Bournakis & Dimitris Christopoulos & Sushanta Mallick, 2015. "Knowledge Spillovers, absorptive capacity and growth: An Industry-level Analysis for OECD Countries," Working Papers 57, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ecsysr:v:29:y:2017:i:3:p:385-417. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CESR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.