An empirical test of models explaining research外文书.pdf

International Journal of Industrial Organization 20 (2002) 747–774 / locate / econbase An empirical test of models explaining research expenditures and research cooperation: evidence for the German service sector Ulrich Kaiser* Harvard University and Centre for European Economic Research, P.O. Box 10 34 43, 68034 Mannheim, Germany Received 15 May 2000; received in revised form 23 October 2000; accepted 6 April 2001 Abstract Key ?ndings of game–theoretic models that describe the effects of spillovers, market size, research productivity and the generality of a ?rms’ research approach on innovation efforts and on their propensity to form a research joint venture (RJV) are empirically tested using innovation survey data of the German service sector. A simultaneous econometric model for cooperation choice and innovation expenditures and a nesting logit model for the choice of different types of cooperation partners are applied in the empirical analysis. By and large, the predictions of the theoretical models are empirically validated. A central ?nding of this paper is that cooperating ?rms invest more in research than non-cooperating ?rms. ? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classi?cation: C35; O31 Keywords: Research cooperation; Research expenditures; Knowledge spillovers; Simultaneous equation model; Nesting logit model; Services 1. Introduction In 1952, John Kenneth Galbraith noted that the ‘era of cheap innovation’ was over. He claimed that ?rms had exhausted low-cost RD programs and were now *Tel.: 149-621-1235-134; fax: 149-621-1235-333. E-mail address: kaiser@zew.de (U. Kaiser). 0167-7187 / 02 / $ – see front matter ? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0167-7187(01)00074-1 748 U. Kaiser / Int. J. Ind. Organ. 20 (2002) 747 –774 forced to signi?cantly increase research efforts in order to achieve scienti?c progress and to gain and retain market shares. An alternative and potentially complementary solution to the cheap innovation