The Norwegian productivity puzzle is rooted in three seemingly contradictory “facts”: First, Norway is one of the most productive OECD countries. Second, Norway has experienced high growth in productivity. Third, Norway has a relatively low level of R&D intensity. In this article, I show...

We address the question of whether the returns to R&D differ between R&D projects funded by public grants and R&D in general. To answer this question, we use a flexible production function that distinguishes between different types of R&D by source of finance. Our approach requires no adjustment...

Many economists maintain that environmental regulations hamper productivity growth. However, recently, an opposing view has gained advocates. Indeed, it has been suggested that the empirically detected inverse relationship between environmental regulations and productivity growth is an almost...

It is an established fact that firms, even within narrowly defined industries, differ with respect to productivity. In this paper we analyse how observed heterogeneity in productivity is affected by endogenous producer behaviour, and to what extent shifts in firm specific productivity parameters...

Norwegian business spending on R&D is low by OECD standards. To stimulate business R&D, in 2002 the Norwegian government introduced a tax-based incentive, SkatteFUNN. We analyze the effects of SkatteFUNN on the likelihood of innovating and patenting. Using a rich database for Norwegian firms, we...

Empirical research has established that there is a significant, positive relationship between productivity growth and R&D- expenditure at the firm level. Yet, while interesting, the conventional production function approach applied in such studies has some well known limitations. <br> This paper...

In a system with n input factors there are n − 1 independent cost shares. An often-used approach in estimating factor demand systems is to (implicitly or explicitly) assume that there is a (independent) cointegrating relationship for each of the n − 1 independent cost shares. However, due to...

We evaluate consequences of some important assumptions ofthe perpetual inventory method of capital stock calculation under geometric depreciation. The data are plant-level panel data from the Norwegian manufacturing statistics, containing independent measures of capital stocks and gross...

A framework for analyzing substitution and scale properties, and technical change from plant-level panel data is presented. Focus is on comparing the constant and random coefficient specification of the substitution and scale parameters and investigating the potential variation of the parameters...

Aggregation of tangible capital assets across vintages and decomposition of value aggregates into quantities and prices are considered. Focus is on both capital stock values and capital service values. If the definitions and ways of measuring prices and quantities are not conformable, a third...