EXAMINING THE LINK BETWEEN CASH FLOW, MARKET VALUE, AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT SPENDING IN THE MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY
研究了1962-2008年医疗器械公司数据，发现研发支出对现金流和市场价值的弹性分别为0.58和0.31，并模拟出医疗器械消费税将导致研发支出减少约40亿美元，造成至少200亿美元生命年损失。
Unlike the pharmaceutical industry, no empirical research has focused on the factors influencing research and development (R&D) spending in the medical device industry. To fill that gap, this study examines how R&D spending is influenced by prior year cash flow and corporate market value using multiple regression analysis and a panel data set of medical device companies over the period 1962-2008. The empirical findings suggest that the elasticities of R&D spending with respect to cash flow and corporate market value equal 0.58 and 0.31, respectively. Moreover, based upon these estimates, simulations show that the recently enacted excise tax on medical devices, taken alone, will reduce R&D spending by approximately $4 billion and thereby lead to a minimum loss of $20 billion worth of human life years over the first 10 years of its enactment.