International trade and R&D spillovers

• Published in: Journal of international economics Vol. 96; no. 1; pp. 138 - 149
• Main Authors: Fracasso, Andrea, Vittucci Marzetti, Giuseppe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.2015; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Economic models; International R&D spillovers; International trade; International trade network; Knowledge spillovers; Manycountries; R&D; Research & development; Studies; Total factor productivity; Trade relations; International R&D spillovers; O47; C23; F01; Knowledge spillovers; Total factor productivity; O30; International trade network
• ISSN: 0022-1996; 1873-0353
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2015.01.010

Departing from the usual tenets of proportionality between cross-border trade flows and knowledge spillovers, we investigate whether relatively intense trade relationships are associated with particularly large international R&D spillovers. A nonlinear specification nesting the hypothesis of global and trade-unrelated R&D spillovers is estimated on a sample of 24 advanced countries over 1971–2004. We find evidence that trade patterns positively affect the international transmission of knowledge, in particular when we consider bilateral trade flows that, thanks to the estimation of an auxiliary gravity model, are normalized for the size and the distance of the trading partners. Finally, we discuss the patterns of the bilateral relationships characterized by both relatively intense trade and large R&D spillovers. •We test the association between international trade and R&D spillovers with no proportionality assumption.•We nest the hypothesis of global and trade-unrelated R&D spillovers in a nonlinear model.•Trade is found to positively affect international knowledge transmission.•Results are robust to the adoption of measures of trade normalized for the partners' size and distance.