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The two faces of R & D and human capital: Evidence from W estern E uropean regions
Author(s) -
Vogel Johanna
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/pirs.12084
Subject(s) - imitation , human capital , frontier , productivity , total factor productivity , affect (linguistics) , economics , psychology , geography , market economy , social psychology , communication , archaeology , macroeconomics
This paper investigates two channels through which R & D and human capital may affect regional total factor productivity growth in the manufacturing sector. Our model allows for both a direct effect on productivity growth, reflecting own innovation, and an indirect effect, reflecting imitation of frontier technology. The results provide evidence of a positive and significant direct effect of human capital, and a positive and significant indirect effect of R & D . Our estimates also suggest that R & D aids the imitation of technology from geographically close regions, while human capital raises productivity growth in regions that are closer to the frontier than their neighbours.