Productivity growth, R&D and the rôle of international collaborative agreements: some évidence for Belgian manufacturing companies

Using Belgian firm level data on R&D and productivity, this paper provides further evidence on the important role of knowledge in explaining performance at the firm level, by augmenting the classical productivity growth approach not only with own R&D expenditures, but also with R&D cooperation. Taking the view that co-operation in R&D gives access to external know-how, the paper provides a new view on the mechanisms through which R&D spillovers may impact firm's output growth. Given the small open character of the Belgian economy, we focus especially on international techno... Mehr ...