Does the Technological Content of Government Demand Matter for Private R&D? Evidence from US States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Slavtchev, Viktor; Wiederhold, Simon
• 署名单位: Leibniz Association; Leibniz Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH); Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20130069
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 45-84
• 关键词: Public procurement; development investment; endogenous growth; Quality ladders; INNOVATION; PRODUCTIVITY; panel; size; preemption; direction

摘要

Governments purchase everything from airplanes to zucchini. This paper investigates the role of the technological content of government procurement in innovation. In a theoretical model, we first show that a shift in the composition of public purchases toward high-tech products translates into higher economy-wide returns to innovation, leading to an increase in the aggregate level of private R&D. Using unique data on federal procurement in US states and performing panel fixed-effects estimations, we find support for the model's prediction of a positive R&D effect of the technological content of government procurement. Instrumental-variable estimations suggest a causal interpretation of our findings.