How, exactly, should you increase your R&D spending? One kind of program seems to work and would be an excellent candidate for more funds: the US’ Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the European Union’s SME instrument (which was modeled on the SBIR).

This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article An Example of High Returns to Publicly Funded R&D, published on New Things Under the Sun.

Articles mentioned:
Howell, Sabrina T. 2017. Financing Innovation: Evidence from R&D grants. American Economics Review 107(4): 1136-1164. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150808

Santoleri, Pietro and Mina, Andrea and Di Minin, Alberto and Martelli, Irene. 2020. The Causal Effects of R&D Grants: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity. SSRN working paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3637867

Wang, Yanbo, Jizhen Li, and Jeffrey L. Furman. 2017. Firm performance and state innovation funding: Evidence from China’s Innofund program. Research Policy 46(6): 1142-1161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.05.001

Myers, Kyle, and Lauren Lanahan. 2021. Estimating spillovers from publicly funded R&D: Evidence from the US Department of Energy. Working paper.