CREAT: Census Research Exploration and Analysis Tool

A Portrait of Firms that Invest in R&D

January 2016

Working Paper Number:

CES-16-41

Abstract

We focus on the evolution and behavior of firms that invest in research and development (R&D). We build upon the cross-sectional analysis in Foster and Grim (2010) that identified the characteristics of top R&D spending firms and follow up by charting the behavior of these firms over time. Our focus is dynamic in nature as we merge micro-level cross-sectional data from the Survey of Industrial Research and Development (SIRD) and the Business Research & Development and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) with the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). The result is a panel firm-level data set from 1992 to 2011 that tracks firms' performances as they enter and exit the R&D surveys. Using R&D expenditures to proxy R&D performance, we find the top R&D performing firms in the U.S. across all years to be large, old, multinational enterprises. However, we also find that the composition of R&D performing firms is gradually shifting more towards smaller domestic firms with expenditures being less sensitive to scale effects. We find a high degree of persistence for these firms over time. We chart the history of R&D performing firms and compare them to all firms in the economy and find substantial differences in terms of age, size, firm structure and international activity; these differences persist when looking at future firm outcomes.

Document Tags and Keywords

Keywords Keywords are automatically generated using KeyBERT, a powerful and innovative keyword extraction tool that utilizes BERT embeddings to ensure high-quality and contextually relevant keywords.

By analyzing the content of working papers, KeyBERT identifies terms and phrases that capture the essence of the text, highlighting the most significant topics and trends. This approach not only enhances searchability but provides connections that go beyond potentially domain-specific author-defined keywords.
:
investment, researcher, enterprise, company, study, growth, research, merger, acquisition, sector, longitudinal, firms size, innovation, multinational, expenditure, innovate, growth firms, invest, firm innovation

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:
Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Security Administration, National Science Foundation, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Longitudinal Business Database, Survey of Industrial Research and Development, Business Master File, Economic Census, Patent and Trademark Office, Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics, Census Bureau Business Register, Business Register, Harmonized System, Herfindahl Hirschman Index, Longitudinal Firm Trade Transactions Database, Business Research and Development and Innovation Survey

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