Does the Technological Content of Government Demand Matter for Private R&D? Evidence from US States
研究了政府采购中高技术产品占比提升如何通过提高创新回报来刺激私人研发，利用美国各州面板数据证实了正向因果关系。
Governments purchase everything from airplanes to zucchini. This paper investigates the role of the technological content of government procurement in innovation. In a theoretical model, we first show that a shift in the composition of public purchases toward high-tech products translates into higher economy-wide returns to innovation, leading to an increase in the aggregate level of private R&D. Using unique data on federal procurement in US states and performing panel fixed-effects estimations, we find support for the model's prediction of a positive R&D effect of the technological content of government procurement. Instrumental-variable estimations suggest a causal interpretation of our findings.