TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lichtenberg,Frank R.
TI  - IR&D Project Data and Theories of R&D Investment
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 2720
PY  - 1989
Y2  - July 1989
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2720
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2720.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Frank R. Lichtenberg
Columbia University
504 Uris Hall
3022 Broadway
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/854-4408
Fax: (212) 854-9895
E-Mail: frl1@columbia.edu
AB  - This paper analyzes data on a large sample of research and development (R&D) projects documented in the Defense Department's Independent R&O Data Bank, both to provide some stylized facts about R&O investment at the project level and to test the implications of a control-theoretical model developed by Grossman and Shapiro. We calculate moments of the marginal distributions and elasticities of cost with respect to time, by type of project (e.g. basic research, development), and discriminate between alternative hypothesis concerning the shape of the hazard function of R&D investment. Consistent with the major implication of the Grossman-Shapiro model, the rate of investment in a project tends to increase as the project approaches completion.
ER  -