R&D and Productivity in High-Tech Industry: Evidence from China

The econometric model in this paper is estimated with the data between 1998 and 2006 in 29 provinces in China, and concludes that R&D has significantly positive contribution to productivity whereas there are individual differences in the contribution of R&D to productivity among provinces and that R&D in the east region affects productivity growth more instantly than that in the central and western regions. The regional difference may result from relatively higher possibility of success of invention and relatively stronger spillover effect of the eastern region to the central and western regions.