Are Economically Advanced Countries More Efficient in Basic and Applied Research?

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Holý, Vladimír, Šafr, Karel
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Holý, Vladimír
Šafr, Karel
author_facet Holý, Vladimír
Šafr, Karel
contents Research and development (R&D) of countries play a major role in a long-term development of the economy. We measure the R&D efficiency of all 28 member countries of the European Union in the years 2008--2014. Super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on robustness of classification into efficient and inefficient units is adopted. We use the number of citations as output of basic research, the number of patents as output of applied research and R&D expenditures with manpower as inputs. To meet DEA assumptions and to capture R&D characteristics, we analyze a homogeneous sample of countries, adjust prices using purchasing power parity and consider time lag between inputs and outputs. We find that the efficiency of general R&D is higher for countries with higher GDP per capita. This relation also holds for specialized efficiencies of basic and applied research. However, it is much stronger for applied research suggesting its outputs are more easily distinguished and captured. Our findings are important in the evaluation of research and policy making.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_05227
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Are Economically Advanced Countries More Efficient in Basic and Applied Research?
Holý, Vladimír
Šafr, Karel
Applications
Physics and Society
Research and development (R&D) of countries play a major role in a long-term development of the economy. We measure the R&D efficiency of all 28 member countries of the European Union in the years 2008--2014. Super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on robustness of classification into efficient and inefficient units is adopted. We use the number of citations as output of basic research, the number of patents as output of applied research and R&D expenditures with manpower as inputs. To meet DEA assumptions and to capture R&D characteristics, we analyze a homogeneous sample of countries, adjust prices using purchasing power parity and consider time lag between inputs and outputs. We find that the efficiency of general R&D is higher for countries with higher GDP per capita. This relation also holds for specialized efficiencies of basic and applied research. However, it is much stronger for applied research suggesting its outputs are more easily distinguished and captured. Our findings are important in the evaluation of research and policy making.
title Are Economically Advanced Countries More Efficient in Basic and Applied Research?
topic Applications
Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.05227