The role of R&D and patent activity in economic growth: some empirical evidence

This paper explains growth of labour productivity through (inter)national spillovers from R&D and patenting. We develop a formal model that is tested for Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America using a new set of panel data. The results indicate that, for the period 1957 until 1991, domestic R&D has an indirect and positive impact on productivity growth for the economy as a whole via technological catch up. For the period 1974–1991 we only find such a postive effect for French manufacturing.