Valeriano Martínez San Román

R&D and Growth in the Spanish Regions: An Empirical Approximation

This paper intends to analyze some features about R&D activities in the recent past in Spain, at the national and regional level. The comparison of some R&D indicators from Spain and other developed countries suggests that Spain is lagging behind especially in terms of the allocation of resources to R&D from the business sector and also in generation of patents. As far as regional behavior is concerned, R&D is concentrated in several regions which are at a remarkable distance from the rest. Finally, we estimate a panel data model linking economic growth to R&D indicators and other variables for the Spanish regions over the years 1995-2008. Main results suggest that total R&D intensity has a positive impact on growth. When R&D is disaggregated according to the type of investor, business R&D has a positive and significant impact on growth. The impact of public and university R&D activities are not significant.