Tapping into Talent: Coupling Education and Innovation Policies for Economic Growth

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Akcigit, Ufuk; Pearce, Jeremy; Prato, Marta
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - New York; Bocconi University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdae047
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 696-736
• 关键词: research-and-development; income-distribution; credit constraints; scientists; incentives; allocation; returns; science; QUALITY; sample

摘要

How do innovation and education policy affect individual career choices and aggregate productivity? This paper analyses the effect of R&D subsidies and higher education policy on productivity growth through the supply of innovative talent. We put scarce talent, higher education attainment, and career choice at the centre of a new endogenous growth framework with individual-level heterogeneity in talent, financial resources, and preferences. We link the model to micro-level data from Denmark on the backgrounds of who obtains a PhD and becomes an inventor and the outcomes of a set of policy interventions. We find that R&D subsidies can be strengthened when combined with higher education subsidies, which enable talented but poor youth to pursue a career in research. Education and innovation policies not only alleviate different frictions, but also impact innovation at different time horizons. Education policy is more effective in societies with higher income inequality.