“A Global Decline in Research Productivity? Evidence from China and Germany”, 2020-12-01 (; similar):
Replicates findings in et al 2020 for China and Germany.
Provides evidence for a decline in research productivity in both countries.
Using firm-level R&D panel data for public and private firms spanning three decades.
Strong decline in R&D productivity in China due to end of catch-up growth.
Conclusion: ideas are not only getting harder to find in the U.S.
In a recent paper, et al 2020 find evidence for a substantial decline in research productivity in the US economy during the last 40 years. In this paper, we replicate their findings for China and Germany, using detailed firm-level data spanning three decades. Our results indicate that diminishing returns in idea production are a global phenomenon, not just confined to the U.S.