How does competition from informal firms impact research and development by formal manufacturing small and medium enterprises in the developing and emerging economies?
研究了90个发展中国家和新兴经济体中，非正规企业竞争对正规制造业中小企业研发可能性的影响，发现竞争每增加一个标准差，研发概率提高3.1-3.6个百分点，且在商业环境不利的国家效果更强。
Abstract The impact of competition from informal or unregistered firms on the likelihood of research and development (R&D) activity by formal manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in 90 developing and emerging countries is estimated. A positive impact is found with a one standard deviation increase in informal competition resulting in a 3.1–3.6 percentage point increase in the probability of R&D activity. Given that only 15.7% of SMEs are engaged in R&D activity, this is a large effect. Consistent with the “legalist” view of informality, the positive impact of informal competition on the likelihood of R&D activity is bigger in countries where the business environment is less favorable to formal versus informal firms due to factors such as weaker rule of law, a higher tax rate on commercial profits, and a greater regulatory burden on the formal firms. We provide several layers of defense against omitted variable bias, reverse causality, and measurement errors. As expected, informal competition has no statistically significant impact on the likelihood of large firms engaging in R&D activity.