Protectionism under R&D policy: innovation rate and welfare

Abstract

The pressure from national lobbies may lead governments to shift from an optimal into a non-optimal innovation policy. This paper examines the growth and welfare effects of optimal and non-optimal innovation policies. The non-optimal policy corresponds to a subsidy for national innovators that is equivalent to an optimal policy of incentives (tax cuts) to foreign investors. Since we are assessing what can nationals do with the support that could be oriented to foreign firms, we are measuring what the economy loses for not supporting foreign firms. We find welfare loss when supporting national R&D instead of foreign R&D. We conclude that the same support given to innovation can produce strikingly different outcomes depending on who receives the support.JEL Classification: F21; H21; O40.