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...

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...

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...

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...

This paper studies how productivity shifts at the level of the firm are transmitted to aggregate industry productivity in a model of heterogeneous firms. We analyse both uniform productivity shifts, and catching up by reducing the productivity differentials between firms. The two kinds of shifts...

Some well-known correlations between R&D and performance are given a somewhat new interpretation in this paper. I present an alternative model of knowledge accumulation, with some interesting and desirable properties. Perhaps the most attractive property is that it provides a simple and less...

Considering the observed patterns of R&D investment, we argue that a model which allows for a positive feedback from already acquired knowledge to the productiveness of current research, fits the empirical evidence better than the standard model that treats knowledge accumulation symmetrically...

This paper describes firms' output and factor demand before, during and after episodes of lumpy investments using a rich employer-employee panel data set for two manufacturing industries and one service industry. We focus on the simultaneous adjustment of capital, materials, man-hours, as well...

Business innovation is an important driver of productivity growth. In this paper, I assess the importance of R&D and ICT investment for firm performance in the manufacturing and service industries. Explicitly, I use an extended version of the CDM model that treats ICT together with R&D as the...