TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dougherty,Sean M.
AU  - Inklaar,Robert
AU  - McGuckin,Robert H.
AU  - Ark,Bart van
TI  - International Comparisons of R&D Expenditure: Does an R&D PPP Make a Difference?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12829
PY  - 2007
Y2  - January 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12829
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12829.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sean Dougherty
OECD Economics Department
2, rue Andre Pascal
75775 Paris Cedex 16
France
E-Mail: sean.dougherty@oecd.org

Robert Inklaar
University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics
PO Box 800
9700 AV Groningen
The Netherlands
E-Mail: R.C.Inklaar@rug.nl

Robert H. McGuckin, III
The Conference Board
845 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
E-Mail: robert.mcguckin@conference-board.org

Bart van Ark
University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics
PO Box 800
9700 AV Groningen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 50 363 3674
Fax: +31 50 363 7337
E-Mail: h.h.van.ark@rug.nl
M3  - presented at "CRIW Conference", April 28-29, 2006
AB  - Purchasing power parities (PPPs) for R&D expenditure in 19 manufacturing industries are developed for France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom relative to the United States for the years 1997 and 1987. These PPPs are based on R&D input prices for specific cost categories and differ substantially from current practice of comparing R&D expenditure using GDP PPPs and deflators. After taking into account differences in the relative price of R&D labor and materials, separate PPPs for other R&D cost categories are less essential, and a simpler version using GDP PPPs for these other categories should suffice. Our preferred PPPs are used to compare international R&D costs and intensity. The results suggest that the efforts devoted to R&D in each country are more similar across countries than is apparent using the nominal R&D intensities that are currently the norm.
ER  -