How national and international financial development affect industrial R&D

We examine the impacts of both domestic and international financial market development on R&D intensities in 22 manufacturing industries in 18 OECD countries for the period 1990-2003. We take account of such industry characteristics as the need for external financing and the amount of tangible assets. Multiple forms of domestic financial development are important determinants of R&D intensity but only foreign direct investment is significant among alternative measures of international financial development. We find the strongest effects for private bond-market capitalization, while FDI, private credit by banks, and stock-market capitalization have similar effects in terms of magnitude.

► We examine the impacts of both domestic and international financial market development on R&D intensities in OECD manufacturing industries. ► We take account of such industry characteristics as the need for external financing and the amount of tangible assets. ► Many forms of domestic financial development are important determinants of R&D intensity, with a particularly strong effect of bond-market capitalization. ► Only foreign direct investment is significant among alternative measures of international financial development. ► We relate these results to theories of investment monitoring with uncertain outcomes.