The impact of R&D activities on exports of german business services enterprises: First evidence from a continuous treatment approach

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

This study uses newly available representative data from German business services firms and a continuous treatment approach based on the generalised propensity score to test for a causal effect of R&D activities (measured by the share of engineers and natural scientists in all employees) on the share of exports in total sales. We find evidence for a positive and statistically significant but small causal effect. This result is in line with the (non-causal) results reported in Vogel and Wagner (2014) based on regression models with and without control for unobserved time-invariant firm characteristics. The bottom line, then, is that R&D activity does matter for success of German business services firms on export markets-but not much.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMicroeconometric Studies Of Firms Imports And Exports : Advanced Methods Of Analysis And Evidence From German Enterprises
EditorsJoachim Wagner
Number of pages21
PublisherWorld Scientific Publishing Co.
Publication date25.02.2021
Pages265-285
ISBN (print)9781786349682
ISBN (electronic)9781786349705
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25.02.2021

    Research areas

  • Business services, Export, Germany, Innovation
  • Economics