As part of the digitalisation of the economy, satellite signals and data play an increasingly pivotal role in the efficient functioning of societies and their economic development. The recent growth in the sector has generated unprecedented levels of entrepreneurship and start-up activity....

We estimate the long-term effect of public R&D on growth in manufacturing by analyzing new data from the Cold War era Space Race. We develop a novel empirical strategy that leverages US-Soviet rivalry in space technology to isolate windfall R&D spending. Our results demonstrate that public R&D...